2 - The Michigan Daily - Monday. June 30. 2003 T1 NEWE s .. -.. . -. ..J . -) ... . I.... MCDONALD Continued from Page 1. This target "is going to be quite easy" to attain because under the points system, admissions officers were instructed to give varying amounts of points to applicants based on the difficulty of their class sched- ule or their involvement in leadership and extracurricular activities, he said. "If you look at the list of factors that were considered ... most of the factors (required by the court) were already being looked at," he said. Although administrators and deans will be meeting this week to discuss changes, there "has been some plan- ning" conducted earlier on reforming the LSA policy, McDonald added. But he said he does not know if it occurred before or after the ruling was announced. The new policy will probably be used for only one year, McDonald said. While applications are piling up for the class of 2008, administrators will be meeting with faculty and staff members to analyze possible changes to the inter- im policy and to begin finalizing a long- term program, he said. McDonald added he does not know the form of final policy or the timetable for its completion, but he said hopefully it will be ready to go by the fall of 2004, in time to affect the class of 2009. Students will not be involved directly in the discussions because "we normally don't involve students in admitting students," McDonald said, but faculty and staff will collect student input and consider it as they recommend admissions criteria. Fac- ulty will not be greatly involved in working on the interim policy because most leave the University over the summer, he added. A more individualized review process where each applicant's indi- vidual characteristics are considered may require the University to hire more admissions officers, McDonald said. University lawyers had argued the point system was the most prac- tical LSA policy because officials had to read through over 25,000 applications a year. But adding to the 20 officers already employed to read undergradu- ate applications for all schools will not impact students' tuition costs or quality of education, he said. "I think that on the scale of the LSA budget, even though that may cost somewhat more, it's not going to take away from instruction," he said. And in the end, the new LSA policy will not only use race in a constitutional manner, but it will also preserve the old system's results of enrolling a diverse student body, McDonald said. "I don't think there's going to be significant changes to the composi- tion of the class. I think the way those (admissions factors) are weighted and looked at is what will change," he said. Texas universities will adopt afinnmative action in the future -4 (U-WIRE) - For the firasttime in seven years, the Universi- ty of Texas has a national standard for admissions practices. After the Hopwood v. Texas decision in 1996, which effectively banned the use of affirmative action in admis- sions at UT, the university was forced to implement cre- ative race-neutral recruiting and admissions policies to maintain minority enrollment without violating the spirit or the letter of the law. Under Hopwood, the university faced some of the most conservative and restrictive affirmative action policies in the nation, said Monica Ingram, assistant dean of admis- sions at the UT Law School. However, with the Supreme Court decisions issued Monday on two University of Michigan cases, Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, all public educational institutions in the nation face the same standards. "We are very pleased that the Court's ruling sweeps away the Hopwood decision and places the state of Texas and the educational institutions in the state of Texas on the same basis as educational institutions elsewhere in the U.S. It's important to have law rendered common throughout the nation," UT President Larry Faulkner said at a news conference Monday. "It's a competitive issue for us, but it's also an issue that gets to the heart of what we're trying to accomplish at this institution." According to the rulings, race may be taken into account in admissions, as one criterion among many, but a point system may not be used. Now Texas Universities, both in undergraduate programs and at the Law Schools, face the task of interpreting the Supreme Court decision and redefining their own admissions procedures. UT admissions officers have been waiting for the opinion and anticipating a decision, but very few detailed policies can be developed before the Justices' opinions have been interpreted by legal experts, said Bruce Walker, the former director of undergraduate admissions at the university. Walker has recently been appointed vice provost, but he still handles admissions. "It's very rare that these decisions are as clear as a bell," Walker said. UT undergraduate admissions, which since Hopwood has relied heavily on the top 10 percent plan and strategic recruiting in traditionally under-represented areas, will return to an admissions process similar to the one in place before 1996, Walker said. The top 10 percent plan won't be discarded until Texas law- makers decide to review it, Walker said. The plan, touted as an alternative to affinative action, has produced a class composed of 70 percent automatically admit- ted students, and has seen much criticism, though President Faulkner emphasized that it has been an effective tool in reach- ing out to geographically underrepresented areas in Texas. Walker agreed that the bill was good foundation, but was not enough. "I don't think the bill itself, without any enhancements, would have been successful," Walker said. "I don't think it's a good thing for every freshman at UT-Austin to be selected on a single criterion." A proposed cap on the bill failed to pass this legislative ses- sion, but the Court's ruling could urge lawmakers to revisit it. On Monday, Student Government President Brian Haley submitted a request to Gov. Rick Perry to reconsider the law in a special session. Walker said that only students not automatically admitted under the top 10 percent law, can be evaluated under affirmative action. The admissions process emphasizes holistic reading for students not automati- cally admitted, Walker said, meaning the applicants are always evaluated relative to the entire pool. The system bears no resemblance to a point system and race will now simply be another factor taken into consideration. The Law School, which has used race-neutral admissions since Hopwood, can now request information about ethnicity, Ingram said. -Originally published June 24 in the Daily Texan. 4 4 4 U m Carl, you still thinking about painting the (91 Camino? Yeah, man, I want to put some killer flames shooting out from my name. Maybe you should just stencil "ugly" across the hood. Watch it Jerry. The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published on Monday during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. Universityaffiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions mustbe prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 734): News/Sports/Opinion 76-DAILY; Arts 763-0379; Circulation 764-0558; Classified advertising 764-0557; Display advertising 764-0554; Billing 764-0550. E-mail letters to the editor to letters@michigandaily.com. World Wide Web: www.michigandaily.com. EDITORIAL SAFSay hrmmla dtri he NEWS Soojung Chang, Managing Editor EDITORS: Victoria Edwards, Andrew McCormack STAFF: Jeremy Berkowitz, Katie Glupker, James Koivunen, Neal Pais, Adam Rosen, Maria Sprow.Trista Van Tine, Samantha Wol EDITORIAL Jason Pesick, Editor STAFF: Rachel Kennett, Srikanth Maddipati, Suhael Momin, Adam Rottenberg, BertRoyal, Jennifer Suh, Joseph Torigian, Sarah Zeile COLUMNISTS: Daniel Adams, John Honkala, Aymar Jean, Jason Pesick SPORTS Gennaro Filice, Managing Editor SENIOR EDITORS: Josh Holman, Michael Nisson, Brian Schick STAFF: Dan Bremmer, Mushi Choudhurry, Ian Herbert, Brad Johnson, Melanie Kebler, Megan Kolodgy, Julie Master, Sharad Mattu, J. 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