cbr iutou &igail

GRADUATION

EDITION

2004


www.michigandaily.com

Ann Arbor, Michigan

m Vol. CXIII, No. 138

02004 The Michigan Daily


SPLIT
June 24, 2003
By Jeremy Bekowitz
and Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporters
WASHINGTON - Considering a college
applicant's 'race' is constitutional ruled the
Supreme Court of the United States in a 5-4 deci-
sion last Monday.
But in a 6-3 vote, it struck down the University
of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and
the Arts' policy of granting points for race.
The two judgments, which gave the University
guidelines for how race can be used in its admis-
sions systems, were the culmination of a six-year
legal battle between the university and the reject-
ed white applicants who sued it.
The court accepted the university's argument
that the need for a diverse student body justified
affirmative action.

DECISION Supreme Court upholds affirmative
action, rejects admissions poit system

The scene outside the courtroom was reminis-
cent of the one two months ago when oral argu-
ments were heard in Grutter v Bollinger and
Gratz Bollinger.
Civil rights leaders and university officials
held impromptu press conferences expressing
their delight. University students and alumni,
living in Washiigton, D.C for thesumieir
gathered to find out about the decision, and
some waited in long lines to obtain copies of
the opinions.
"This is a victory today," said Theodore Shaw,
associate director-counsel of the National Associ-
ation for the Advancement of Colored People.
"This leaves the doors of opportunity open for
minority students."
The decision was fortunate, given the current
conservative makeup of the court, he said. Seven
of the nine justices received their appointments
from Republican presidents.

Writing for the majority in the Law School
case, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said the need
for diversity justifies using race as an admissions
factor, thus rejecting the claims made by the
plaintiffs that race should never be considered as
an admissions factor.
"Because universities, and in particular law
schools, represent tietraining ground for a large
number of the nation's leaders ... the path to
leadership must be visibly open to talented and
qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity,"
her opinion states.
O'Connor wrote that the Law School policy
"engages in a highly individualized, holistic
review of each applicant's file, giving serious
consideration to all the ways an applicant might
contribute to a diverse educational environment
... The program adequately ensures that all fac-
tors that may contribute to diversity are meaning-
fully considered alongside race."

But writing for the majority in the LSA case,
Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote that "the
only consideration that accompanies the 20-point
automatic distribution to all applicants from
under-represented minorities is a factual review
to determine whether an individual is a member
of one of these minority groups ... The LSA's 20-
point distribution has the effect of making 'the
factor of race ... decisive' for virtually every
minimally qualified underrepresented minority
applicant."
O'Connor and Rehnquist have a total of 53
years of experience on the court, in which they
have gained reputations as a pragmatic swing
vote and a consistent conservative, respectively.
They are both rumored to retire in the near
future, having waited long enough to have a
voice in a landmark case for which they possess
enormous passion for.
O'Connor faced enormous discrimination in

the 1950s when very few women graduated from
law school. Rehnquist has repeatedly opposed
affirmative action policies since his 1971
entrance onto the court and voted against the
constitutionalitf'otracial 'quotas in the 1978
Regents of the University of(alifornia v. Bakke
case.
Despite the p it ecision, Jniversity president
Mary Sue Coleman called the ruling "a tremen-
dous victory" for the University and all institu-
tions of higher education. "The court sent a clear
message today that affirmative action may be
used in our admissions policies," she said during
a press conference by telephone.
"The court has provided two important signals.
The first is a green light to pursue diversity in the
college classroom. The second is a road map to
get us there;' Coleman said.

LEO negotiations end with
no finalized agreement

Tech Center inflames

April 8, 2004
By Alison Go
Daily Staff Reporter
Shortly after 4 a.m., the Lecturers'
Employee Organization and the University
administration cut off negotiations for the
evening, ensuring that the planned LEO
walkout will occur today.
"Because it came so late in the night, we
did not make any tentative agreements,"
LEO President Bonnie Halloran said. "We
do not have a new contract and will be
holding the walkout as planned."
The "strike central" on campus is Haven
Hall, facing the Diag, the LEO website
said. Picketing was to begin at 5:30 a.m.
"We definitely made progress on job
security and salary," Halloran said. "The
walkout will go on to ensure progress con-
tinues."

The administration, however, is still opti-
mistic that an agreement will be reached.
"The University bargaining team feels
they are making headway," University
spokeswoman Julie Peterson said.
Both sides have no plans for the immedi-
ate future, aside from more talks that will
restart tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
The University has yet to meet the
demands of LEO. There have been 36 bar-
gaining sessions, which have resulted in
agreement on 18 contract articles, since the
inception of the talks on August 19.
The last article that was passed regards how
the University posts its available job positions.
"The lecturers are an important group on
campus, and they do a good job in terms of
creating a wonderful and intellectual envi-
ronment," University President Mary Sue
Coleman said.
The negotiations, which began at 1 p.m.

at the Wolverine Room in the Michigan
Union, mostly revolved around salary and
job security issues, Peterson said. The
negotiations were scheduled to last until 5
p.m., but bargaining sessions were restarted
at 5:30 p.m. and extended into the early
morning at the Administrative Services
Building near the Wolverine Towers.
The two sides did not sit down at the bar-
gaining table until around 10 p.m. Before
that, the lead negotiators for the two bar-
gaining teams made "conceptual presenta-
tions" of their perspectives on the issues.
Each presentation was followed by ques-
tions from the opposing group.
And while there has been little move-
ment in talks, both sides say they have been
able to remain civil throughout the bargain-
ing sessions.
"The negotiations have always been very
professional," Halloran said.

-Al

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Bollinger leaves for Columbia;
Lee Bollinger received his Bachelor's
degree from the University of Oregon and
law degree from Columbia University,
where he was editor of the law review.
He served as dean of the Michigan Law
School from 1987 to 1994, provost of
fl nnrtmrn,,th ('nIbcarpfrn~m 1 QA 4to 1(MQ

Coleman is first female president.
Mary Sue Coleman was a member of
the biochemistry faculty for 19 years and
a Cancer Center administrator at the Uni-
versity of Kentucky in Lexington.
Her research at the University of Ken-
tucky at Lexington focused on the
immi ma* ,cx ~rctom and4 ry -aiic rnnrnr. ac n.n,.

I


I I I