2B - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 20, 2004
AFFIRMATIVE ACTON
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October 10, 2000
6
After three years, suit clears district level
By Michael Grass
Daily News Editor
It's been a long three years.
And while some predict the lawsuit
challenging the University's Literature,
Science and the Arts admissions poli-
cies will be ultimately decided by the
U.S. Supreme. Court, just clearing the
district court level was a journey in its
own right.n
. After Jennifer Gratz and Patrick
Hamacher initially filed suit against the
University in October 1997, the case
has been subject to numerous delays,
motions and appeals.
The Washington, D.C.-based Center
for Individual Rights filed the lawsuit
on behalf of two white applicants who
claimed they were unfairly evaluated
under the LSA admissions system.
CIR's clients, Gratz and Hamacher,
claimed underqualified minority
applicants were admitted over them
because race was a factor in Univer-
sity admissions.
"Race should never be a factor,"
Hamacher said in an interview with the
Daily in October 1997.
Gratz, from Southgate, graduated
with a 3.765 grade point average and
had an ACT score of 25.
"I felt like there was a wrongdoing,"
Gratz said that October. "The policies
need to be changed so nobody has to go
through what I went through."
Gratz said she hoped the lawsuit
would force the University to change
its ways.
As the University was still reacting to
the suit against LSA, CIR doubled its
punch that December, targeting the Uni-
versity with a second suit. This time, it
that the University's Law School admis-
sions policies were unlawful.
Barbara Grutter, who applied in
1996, said she too was unfairly denied
admissions to the University's Law
School.
The University took it upon itself to
defend its policies, even if it meant
bringing the cases to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
With two different suits preparing to
move through the federal court system,
it was unclear how long it would take to
reach a resolution.
The University has been recognized
for its efforts to increase minority
enrollment after massive student
protests in the late 1960s and 1970s
pressuring the University administration
to up the number of minority faculty
and students.
But by the mid-1980s, the University
administration decided their efforts did
not go far enough. In 1987, then-provost
James Duderstadt, who would become
University president, implemented the
Michigan Mandate, a new effort to
boost minority enrollment.
Under the mandate's policies, minori-
ty enrollment University-wide increased
from 12.7 percent to 25.4 percent at the
time the lawsuits were filed.
a
June 24, 2003
Students divided over methods
used to achieve diverse campus
By James Koivunen
and Samantha Woll
Daily Staff Reporters
September 2, 2003
' admissions debuts new
set of application standards
Yesterday's much awaited U.S. Supreme Court deci-
sion marked both the end and the beginnning of many
student marches, petitions, rallies and debates sur-
rounding the controversial issue of affirmative action
in the University's admissions policies.
The split decision reflects the array of student
beliefs across campus with strong support for both
sides of this issue - and many still undecided and
confused about the Supreme Court's decision.
The key component of the court's split decision was
the fact that in both the College of Literature, Science
and the Arts and Law School cases race was consid-
ered to be a legitimate factor in their admissions poli-
cies. Many University students, regardless of their
stance on the University's current admissions system
support the idea that racial diversity is a compelling
state interest.
Mathematics doctoral candidate Jared Maruskin
agreed that diversity is important and does have an
effect on students, even on those who are unaware
of it.
"I've had friends who have said that diversity does-
n't really affect me, that people still stay in their
groups," Maruskin said. "But it's very important even
if we just see people from all sorts of cultures and
backgrounds represented here," he continued.
Kelly Jones, a first-year graduate student in the
School of Education, agreed that certain races are
specifically disadvantaged and said that "because of
the inequity that there is for certain groups of people,
there has to be some way to make up for that."
However, Jones and fellow students, while under-
standing the need for current race-conscious policies,
have concerns about instituting a permanent affirma-
tive action policy.
"I believe it needs to start at the grade school and
high school levels and that we shouldn't have to do
this at college, but right now we need to," she added.
By Jeremy Berkowitz
Daily Staff Reporter
More introspective essays and questions
frame the new LSA admissions application
that went into effect yesterday. The changes are
part of an effort to help the University ascer-
tain more about a student's background in
order to build a diverse freshman class.
The revisions were brought upon by June's
Supreme Court rulings, which upheld the Law
School's system for using race as a factor in
admissions. But the Court struck down the
LSA system, which gave up to 20 points out of
a possible 150 to every underrepresented
minority.
The new process eliminates the controversial
point system and allows for a more individual-
ized review of an applicant's file, similar to the
Law School's system.
The University is in the middle of hiring 16
readers, mostly former professors and retired
teachers. These readers will give applications a
first read and then make a recommendation of
acceptance, deferral or denial.
Next, a professional admissions counselor will
give a second blind review and make a subse-
quent recommendation.
Final decisions will then be made by a.senior-
level admissions manager, using the two recom-
mendations as supplementary. If that person is
unable to make a decision, the application will be
forwarded to an seven- or eight-person admis-
sions review committee.
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July 7, 2003 A . ,
Connerly to speak
at U, may lead state
ballot initiative
By Soojung Chang
Daily News Editor
Since the Supreme Court upheld diversity as a compelling interest
in higher education, American Civil Rights Coalition Chairman Ward
Connerly has been suggesting that he will try to fight the decision
with a voter initiative in Michigan.
Connerly - the University of California-Berkeley regent who led
successful voter initiatives that ended affirmative action in California
and the state of Washington - will be speaking at a press conference
hosted by the The Michigan Review at noon tomorrow on the steps of
the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library.
According to a written statement, Connerly "will announce the next
step for all those who oppose the government-sponsored practice of
treating people of different 'races' differently" at the press conference.
A For an application or more