A Professor's Questions

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Carl Cohen wanted
to know the
University of
Michigan admission
practices. He didn't
mean to start a
national test case or
to find himself
reviled as a foe of
affirmative action.

JON HALL
Special to the Jewish News

Ann Arbor

F

or more than 40 years, dri-
ven primarily by a belief in
free speech and equality,
University of Michigan
Philosophy Professor Carl Cohen has
made himself inequity's foe.
From defending the rights of Nazis
to speak in Skokie, Ill., to railing
against his own university's use of
racial preferences in admissions,
Cohen has waged a vigorous, public
debate.
Although he has long been active
in his synagogue and in the Jewish
community, "I can't honestly say
that I was motivated by religious
principle," said Cohen of his efforts
to ferret out proof that the
University of Michigan applied
racial preferences to increase the
enrollment of minority students.
There is "much harmony" between
good religious principles and good

Jon Hall is a five-lance writer in
Ann Arbor.

Cohen said he doesn't anguish
Democratic principles, he said, but
over that. "It will certainly reduce
added he was not acting with a pri-
the numbers," he conceded, but
mary Jewish consciousness."
"they've been artificially inflated" to
Cohen also pointed out that he's
begin with.
had no active role in the lawsuits
He protested suggestions that dis-
filed against U-M to force a change
continuing the use of racial prefer-
in its policies, even though various
ences will lead to re-segregation.
Jewish organizations have been
"That's false and patronizing,"
involved in other suits, taking wide-
Cohen complained. "To suggest an
ly different stances on affirmative
incapacity on the part of minority
action. "I am not a litigant against
scholars ... is unfair, untrue
my university," he stressed.
to the facts. If I were a
Ab ove:
The suits have drawn
Carl
Cohen
in
member of a minority
national attention, with
his University of
group, I'd be insulted if
many expecting they could
Michigan office
someone suggested that I
provide the next major defi-
couldn't make it" on my
nition of what is or isn't
own.
acceptable practice by uni-
Conceding that academically tal-
versities trying to make their student
ented Jewish and Asian American
bodies more diverse.
students already comprise 20 percent
In the first week of May, the uni-
of the University's student body,
versity will formally ask the judge to
larger than their part in the general
dismiss the suit againsat its law school.
population, Cohen still is opposed
Trial in that case is due to start in
to efforts to strike balance for its
August.
own sake. "I don't think we should
Whatever happens in the suits, the
be thinking about proportionality,"
action already has brought changes in
he said. "I think the best, most
U-M admission practices that may, in
deserving students should be admit-
the short run, reduce the number of
ted."
minority students enrolled.

Faith And Family

"He's a guy who is constantly interest-
ed in learning more," said Sunnie Tait,
a former teacher at Ann Arbor's
Hebrew Day School. Tait has known
the 67-year-old Cohen for years, and
says he's as strong in his private beliefs
as his public ones.
The private beliefs include those of
faith. Cohen donated the Ner
the "perpetual flame," to light the Ark
at Beth Israel Congregation in Ann
Arbor in memory of his late wife,
Muriel. They had been married 27
years when she died in 1989. ,
Though reticent about his personal
life, Cohen has actively supported his
congregation, including a stint as its
president in the early 1980s. He also
pitched in to help buy a building for
the local Jewish Community Center
and actively supported the Hebrew
Day School, which Muriel had helped
to found.
"Every year, at graduation, Carl
would speak about ... books, and how
important they were," said Tait. Cohen
funded an award for the graduates, and
said he remains involved in local
Jewish affairs, though he doesn't keep

4/23
1999

Detroit Jewish News

17

