'tr'W Untli News: 76 DAILY Advertising: 764-0554 One hundred seven years of editornidfreedom Wednesday December 3, 1997 n:e University of Michigan Law School statistics for So class of 1999 Number of students: Applied - 3,636 Accepted 1,123 Enrolled , 319 Question No 11 on the applicatioh Median of those enrolled; asks for the "race GPA: 3.5 or ethnicity which LSAT: 167 you thiok best applies to you-" C,-, s.,yr.k K k n'1 ".. Class composition. Male: 64% Female: 36% Minority: 21% New lawsuit opposes admissions policy By Heather Kamins and Jeffrey Kosseff Daily Staff Reporters The law firm challenging the University's e undergraduate admissions policies will file a similar suit today against the Law School. Barbara Grutter, who applied to the Law School in December 1996 and was denied admission to this past Fall's incoming class, is suing the University, alleging that the admis- sions policies discriminated against her by giv- ing racial preferences to minority students. "The plantiff in this case has a very com- pelling case that will hold up in court," Michael Greve, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based law firm Center =for Individual Rights, told The Michigan Daily yesterday. CIR filed the original suit against the University's undergraduate admissions policies in October and will now represent Grutter. "Race is a very substantial factor in the University of Michigan admissions," Greve said. Grutter, 44, graduated from Michigan State University in 1978 with a GPA of 3.81 and LSAT score of 161. For 11 years, Grutter has run a health care information consulting busi- ness. The suit claims Grutter suffered humiliation, emotional distress, pain and suffering and eco- nomic damages from not being admitting to the University. The suit states that she is still willing to attend the Law School. The complaint, filed by CIR, names University President Lee Bollinger, Law Dean Jeffrey Lehman, Assistant Dean for Law School Admissions Dennis Shields, the University Board of Regents and the Law School as defendants in a class-action suit. Lehman said he is confident the school's admissions policy is constitutional. "We do not use quotas," Lehman said. "We are fortunate that we have far more well-quali- fied applicants than we can accept each year." Of the 3,636 students who applied for admission to the Law School's class of 1999, 1,123 were accepted. Minority students com- prise 21 percent of the 1999 Law class. University President Lee Bollinger said the addition of a new lawsuit does not change the core public policy issues at stake, nor does it aid the firm's aggressive tactics against affir- mative action nationwide. "I don't think it enhances their position in any way," Bollinger said. "The great issue is will we, as Texas and California sadly demon- strate, head towards a resegregation in educa- tion or will we continue to strive towards the ideals of Brown v. Board of.Education." Terry Pell, senior legal counsel for ClR, said the two lawsuits are currently separate because they challenge admissions programs in differ- ent colleges within the University. "This is a separate second lawsuit," Pell said. "As the two lawsuits progress, they may be combined if they have very similar characteris- tics. But we do not know about that now. See LAWSUIT, Page 2 "We believe that the racial and ethnic diversity that has resulted has made the University of Mihian Lawn School a better law school than it could possibly have been otherwise. - Report of the Law School Admissions Committee WU to issue esponse to original suit By Heather Kamins Daily Staff Reporter The University is scheduled to submit an official response today to the ongoing lawsuit challenging its use of affirma- ta action in the undergraduate admissions process. e lawsuit, filed Oct. 14, claims the University's use of race as a factor in admission to the College of Literature, Science and the Arts violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison said he could not comment on the specifics of the response. "While I cannot divulge the content of our answer, I believe members of the University community can expect us to offer a strong defense of our policies and an affirmation of our goal of retaining a diverse student body," Harrison said. Michael Greve, executive director of the Center for I vidual Rights, the Washington, D.C.-based thinktank that brought the suit against the University, said he does not expect anything of importance to be revealed in the response. "At these early stages, there are never any breakthroughs,' Greve said. "This is run-of-the mill stuff. Are we terribly con- cerned? No." The University's response comes a month after its original due date. Through a verbal agreement between the University and CIR, the deadline was moved back from Nov. 3 to Dec. 3. University Law School professors said that usually such responses are just formalities, but defendants can ask for cer- t parts of the motion to be dismissed. They speculated that University might claim that certain parties named in the suit are inappropriate. The defendants named in the suit are the University, LSA, former University President James Duderstadt and University President Lee Bollinger. - Daily Staff Reporter Jeffrey Kosseff contributed to this report. JOHN KRAFT/Daily Pre4aw Club President Amy Lu speaks to students interest- ed in applying to law school. Some club members plan to apply to the University's Law School. "We are confident that our admissions policy is constitutional." - Jeffrey Lehman, Law Dean "The plantiff in very compelling up in court." this case has a case that will hold - Michael Greve, CIR KEVIN KRUPITZER/Daily Law second-year students Rocky Dhir, Wendy Maranty and Colin Wexler do research in the Law Library. A class-action lawsuit challenging the Law School's admissions policies Is expected to be filed today. I tudents line up for tickets By Steve Iorwltz Daily Staff Reporter Despite long lines, high ticket prices and even higher travel costs, few students are experiencing buyer's remorse where the Rose Bowl is con- c ed. But if Christmas came early this year for verine fans, many are seeing first hand why the holiday season is so stressful. Purchasing tickets was an exhausting process in itself yesterday. The ticket line outside Yost Ice Arena snaked around an adjacent parking lot dur- ing the first day of student ticket voucher sales. Tom Karunas, game day supervisor of ticket sales, said about 3,000 student tickets were sold yesterday. "I've waited 45 minutes and moved about 35 f t," said LSA senior Jim Schumacher, one of the mated 5,000-7,000 students expected to buy tickets for the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena. "It's a hell of a lot longer than I expected," he said. "I'll probably be (here) another three hours." Although the line was long, students remained See TICKETS, Page 7 'U aims to maximize diversity By Christine M. Palk extremely rich and diverse campus." Daily Staff Reporter Rasmussen said while Michigan has Court actions, student opinion and the become one of the most numerically diverse nation's political climate all affect how cam- institutions in the country in the past 15 puses perceive issues of diversity. Finding years, demographics are not the most impor- themselves in the middle of a constantly tant factors when it comes to diversity. changing debate, administrators at the "It's not really that Michigan needs to be University and nationwide say they share the concerned with diversity, in terms of num- common goal of promoting diversity in bers," Rasmussen said. "What we really need America's campuses. is to maximize the diversity that's already Sue Rasmussen, associate director of the here. We have the building blocks; the ques- University's Department of Affirmative tion now is, how do we take advantage of what Action, said she is pleased with the we have, and how can we share our University's increasingly resources?" diverse population, but says e t +tRasmussen said the there is always room for w.. question is not being suffi- change. r.ciently addressed. She "Compared to other believes students at the schools, I'd say we're doing University "tend to stay OK," Rasmussen said. "We within their own groups." need to be proud of where University administrators, we've come. But that does- faculty and staff are an inte- n't mean we stop here" gral part of the necessary Provost Nancy Cantor - change, Rasmussen said. said a diverse campus is "We can't force people "absolutely necessary" in today's society. to integrate, but one thing the University can "The most important reason to have diver- do is to promote intergroup action with dia- sity is that by having peonle with very logue groups, task groups, project groups, to Asian American Native American 'C African American } Foreign MICHELLE McCOMBS Cantor maintained that students in Ann Arbor seem to interact well. "I think people mix on this campus quite a bit through the classroom, athletics, and extracurricular activities," Cantor said. "I think there's actually quite a bit of mixing." John Matlock, assistant vice provost and director of the Office of Academic LSA senior Bill Hasler and his brother, Engineering sophomore Brad Hasler, camped outside Yost Ice Arena yesterday for Rose Bowl tickets. -I I~gbo m mhiOf I _. eskMLW§ .I I I I I I I