w w w W W 2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, May 15, 2002 OP/ED eb £lidittau ilai 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LISA HOFFMAN Editor in Chief ZAC PESKOWITZ Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. VIEWPOINT Students achieve victory in Law School case BY AGNES ALEOBUA, JESSICA CURTIN AND BEN ROYAL In a stunning victory yesterday for pro-affirma- tive action and pro-integrationist forces in our socie- ty, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the University Law School's affirmative action policy in a 5-4 decision. This decision overturns U.S. Judge Bernard Friedman's segregationist ruling and pre- vents higher education from being resegregated in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. This victory is a direct result of student mobi- lizations organized by United for Equality and Affir- mative Action, the student intervenor-defendant's organization, and the Coalition to Defend Affirma- tive Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary. The 6th Circuit decision represents a definitive departure from the 5th and 1lth Circuit's anti-affir- mative action decisions in the Hopwood and Johnson cases. Grutter v. Bollinger is the only case in which students intervenors put on a full case at trial. The strength of students' voices in the court- room and voices in the street is clearly reflected in a concurrent decision written by Justice Clay and signed onto by Justices Daughtrey, Moore and Cole. Clay writes, "Diversity in education, at its base, is the desegregation of a historically segregated pop- ulation and, as the intervenors essentially argue, Bakke and Brown must therefore be read together so as to allow a school to consider race or ethnicity in its admissions for many reasons, including to reme- dy past discrimination or present racial bias in the educational system." Clay, along with the student intervenors, recognizes that equality is the funda- mental issue at stake in this case, referring in his opinion to slavery, the Civil War, and Brown v. Board of Education. Clay also adopts the intervenors' argument that racism crosses class lines and thus necessitates affirmative action for middle-class black students as well. Clay writes, "It is naive to believe that because an African American lives in an affluent neighborhood, he or she has not known or been the victim of discrimination such that he or she cannot relate to the same life experiences as the impover- ished black person." Justice Clay concurs with the student inter- venors' assertion that standardized tests are racist and sexist: "Using a lottery for all students above certain threshold figures for their GPA and LSAT is in no way 'race-neutral' as reflected in the record. For example, the record indicates ... that perform- ance on tests such as the LSAT and the SAT corre- lates with an applicant's race and gender. In other words, the record indicates that LSAT scores are neither race-neutral or gender-neutral criteria for admissions decisions" Finally, Clay sides with the intervenors' long- time assertion that abandonment of affirmative action would result in the resegregation of higher education: "Indeed, on the record before us, any purportedly race-neutral policy could result in a de facto segregated law school, the deleterious results of which have long been known by society and rejected by the Court." The resegregationist Center for Individual Rights has already announced that it will appeal yes- terday's decision. We will repeat our victory at the coming Supreme Court showdown. Students who have been a part of this movement have already done what we were told was impossi- ble. We have successfully defended affirmative action in the conservative federal court system and prevented higher education from being resegregated in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. We achieved this historic victory by organizing and mobilizing the forces in our society that stand against racism and believe in the vision of the Civil Rights Movement of an equal and integrated society. The next steps of our movement will be to organize a national petition campaign to collect I million signatures and to organize a National March on Washington to coincide with the Supreme Court hearing of the University cases. On May 31 and June 1 there will be a Conference of the New Civil Rights Movement which will be held at the University to plan the petition campaign and the March on Washington. Rev. Jesse Jackson has said he will attend the conference. Please check the BAMN website (www.bamn.com) for conference details and updates about how you can become a part of our generation's Brown v. Board of Education and the new civil rights movement. Aleobua is an LSA junior; Curtin is a Rackham student and Royal is an LSA senior The writers are members of BAMNand student intervenors in Grutter VIEWPOINT The failures of affirmative action at the 'U' BY JUSTIN WILSON I am more than my race, class and gender. In fact, I'd venture to say that my race, class and gender probably play a small role in who I truly am. Yet, in the eyes of the University, I'm just another check in a box - another white, mid- dle-class, male applicant. But does a couple of check marks measure what I bring to campus? No, and to think so is to disrespect the very heart of human dignity. We are all much more than just the color of our skin. Yet according to yesterday's ruling, which upheld the Law School's use of racial preferences and the 1978 Bakke decision, that is all I am - a nameless, faceless, white guy. I do not deny that America has a checkered history and I do not deny that enormous social inequality exists. I also believe that something must be done to resolve it, but I don't see how we, as a nation, can reconcile affirmative action and the ultimate goal of a color-blind society, when affirmative action is a program that by definition makes judgments based solely on a person's race. How can just ends be achieved by unjust means? Especially when those means do not address the root of the problem or pro- vide the best possible solution. In the'50s and '60s, America decided that judging anyone by their race was inappropriate, and under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, ille- gal. But that is exactly what the 6th Circuit's decision allows and the University practices. Racial preferences in university admissions stand as the last government permissible meas- ures that judge people by their race. How can this stand as a compelling government interest? The government is willing to allow unjust means to accomplish just ends. That is, the 6th Circuit feels that patently racist admissions policies are A-ok, so long as they promote the dubious concept of academic diversity. This is an important distinction, insofar that yesterday's decision rejects to use of affirmative action to remedy past social injustices or promote social equality of any sort. Under the Bakke deci- sion, Justice Powell said that racial preference may only be used as one of many "plus" factors in admissions and only to create academic diversity. As a result, the University claims that the necessity of a "critical mass" of minorities, which might as well be a quota system, is a compelling government interest. They contend that the presence of minorities in a law school positively benefits the entire institution. And they also hold that they must admit a "critical mass" of minorities to prevent the others from feeling isolated or lonely. The problem is that academic diversity is a sham and only a cover for the University's hid- den social justice agenda. Never once has an administrator uttered a word about affirmative action and social equality. To do so would be legal suicide, as their cover-up might be exposed and ruled unconstitutional under Bakke. Instead, they all toe the diversity line. It is not only disingenuous to the community and legal system, but disrespectful to the very dig- nity of minorities. A Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary member once said, "Minorities are not like trees - they can't bring ushere to . make campus a little prettier." But that is exactly what the administration is doing. The diversity defense does nothing but use minori- ties to make campus a little more colorful. The sad fact is that for all the efforts the University has undertaken to create diversity, campus remains largely segregated. From sepa- rate but equal residence hall lounges to segre- gated so-called multi-cultural student groups, the University community has failed in foster- ing true diversity. This raises a much broader question: What is diversity? According to the Law School, it is little more than an applicant's race, class and gender, but we are much more than that. But the univer- sity largely ignores an applicant's true diversity, insofar that real diversity runs counter to the hidden agenda of admitting a large number of minorities to promote social justice. There is no other reason explaining why the University ignores so many other factors. In his dissent, Justice Boggs points out that the University completely disregards many other critical fac- tors influencing diversity-such as religion, geo- graphic region or political persuasion, at the same time, Jews, Michiganders and liberals are all over-represented. Yesterday's ruling support- ing the University's idea diversity is insulting and degrading. It is divisive and runs counter to the very idea of equality. Wilson is an LSA senior and Editor in Chief of The Michigan Review. THE LONG JOURNEY TO GRUTTER: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES "Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrim- ination for its own sake'." - Supreme Court Justice Lewis Pow- ell's opinion in Bakke on June 28, 1978. "In any event, we have said before and I now reiterate our commitment to make the University accessible to minority students." - Former University President Robben Fleming in response to the Bakke ruling on Throughout our history we have included stu- dents from diverse geographical, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds." - Former President Lee Bollinger on Oct. 14, 1997. "The quality of the educational learning environment that we provide to our students is very affected by the variety of students we bring to campus." - Former LSA Dean Edie Goldenberg in evil. This will be the great battle to eliminate affirmative action nationwide." - Michigan Rep. David Jaye (R- Macomb) on Oct. 14, 1997. "At its core, affirmative action should try to offset past injustices by fashioning a campus population more truly reflective of modern America and our hopes for the future. Unfortunately, a pair of lawsuits brought against my alma mater pose a threat tions of higher education is vital to amici's efforts to hire and maintain a diverse work- force, and to employ individuals of all back- grounds who have been educated in a diverse environment. Such a talented workforce is important to amici's continued success in the global marketplace." - Amicus curiae brief filed in Eastern District of Michigan in both the Gratz and Grutter cases on Oct. 16, 2000 on behalf of 20 corporations ruling in Grutter on March 27, 2001. "Every one of the 38,000 students here at the University of Michigan deserves to be here." - Liese Hull, academic adviser for Inteflex program and the Comprehensive Studies Program on March 27, 2001. "For the first time in a decade, we Americans find ourselves in a tough economic environment. Although forecasts are optimistic for pulling the