4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 29, 200
420 MAYNARD STREET
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 SRAVYA CHIRUMAMILLA JASON PESICK
letters@michigandaily.com Editor in Chief Editorial Page Editor
EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do
SINCE 1890 not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
A s the U.S. Supreme Court nears a 1 ) C best doctors or lawyers.
decision in the case of Grutter v. P rofess10n al d i1v ers ~tv Studies have shown that eliminating
Bollinger, et al., the suit challeng- d race-conscious admissions policies in
ing the constitutionality of the law school's t shol lsefavt eon omichaffirsmties action" haso
admissions policies, organizations that Graduate schools would suffer if U loses in court fveonofhaf irma iveactireferrdhastnot
represent law and medical schools have _- -proven to be successful in maintaining
reaffirmed the importance of race-con- minority students entering the class of 350 ties once they have completed their educa- diversity within professional schools. In a
scious admissions policies. The from 21-37 to about 10. tions. After graduation, many of these brief to the Supreme Court, the
Association of American Medical Colleges In order to create a more equitable minority professionals in fact return to poor- Association of American Medical
and the Law School Admission Council society, there are a number of reasons why er minority communities and help to raise Colleges wrote, "Accounting for econom-
have forecasted significant declines in the it is important to have a large number of the standard of living in those communities. ic hardship will not level the admissions
number of black and Hispanic doctors and underrepresented minorities within these It is also a fact that minorities are playing field for minority and non-minor-
lawyers should the use of race-conscious professions. Without race-conscious more likely to seek assistance from ity medical school candidates." There
admissions policies be ruled unconstitu- admissions policies, minority communi- minority professionals when they are in appears to be no adequate substitute for
tional. These reports highlight the impor- ties would have a lack of well-educated need of professional services - an exam- race-conscious admissions policies in
tance of the admissions policies that the minority professionals. Minority doctors ple of the need for an increased number order to guarantee a diverse student body
University's law school uses in order to and lawyers who return to their communi- of minorities educated at professional at the professional school level.
create a diverse student body. I ties provide residents with quality medical schools. There is an enormous need for The new data illustrate the reality that
Law School Dean Jeffrey Lehman has care and legal services, which these com- doctors, for example, in poor communi- the use of race-conscious admissions poli-
acknowledged the decline in the number of munities often lack. The young profes- ties and many medical school officials cies is not merely significant in determin-
minority students that would result from sionals also help to inspire younger mem- acknowledge the importance of having ing the makeup of a law or medical school
the elimination of the use of race-based bers of the communities to continue with minority doctors trained at their schools. class, but that there will be wide, negative
admissions policies. Lehman predicts that their academic studies. Grades and standardized test scores, societal implications if the court does not
in the case of the University's law school, It is often assumed that young minority which often favor white applicants, do uphold the University's current law school
there would be a decrease in the number of professionals flee their original communi- not necessarily determine who will be the admissions system as unconstitutional.
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Cracking the codes
Universities must allow student expression
In a move highlighting the lack of free- geous step of restricting certain types of
dom students enjoy on college campus- speech on campus. Both students and fac-
es across the country, the Foundation for ulty vehemently opposed these codes
Individual Rights in Education filed a suit because they would have infringed on cer-
last Tuesday against the Code of Conduct at tain constitutional freedoms of expression.
Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, a Locally, the University has revised its
small public university 45 miles from code often and has repeatedly been faced
Harrisburg. FIRE states that the current with opposition. In 1988, the Office of
code is unconstitutional because it limits Affirmative Action released a speech code
students' right to freely express themselves. prohibiting unpopular, but none-the-less
This nationwide impingement on students' constitutionally-protected speech, such as
constitutional rights is not conducive to pro- hanging a Confederate flag and making
viding students with an excellent, offensive comments. The code
college experience. This nationwide was deemed unconstitutional by
The lawsuit was filed in the impingement on a federal court because it prohib-
U.S. District Court for plaintiffs students' ited offensive comments about
Jane and John Doe, who are a constitutional alternative lifestyles, women and
senior and a junior, respectively rights is not race. While the University has
and "members of at least one conducive to revised the Code of Student
expressive student organiza- providing Conduct, a document separate
tion." Within the student code at students with an from the code released in 1988,
Shippensburg, vague terms excellent college and established the Statement of
attempt to define harassment experience. Student Rights and
"as unsolicited, unwanted con- Responsibilities, students should
duct which annoys, threatens, or alarms a be vary of any administrative manipulation
person or group." Students there are lim- of the code. The University's statement is
ited to holding rallies and discussions at considered one of the most restrictive codes
two campus locations and are not permit- amongst Big Ten schools because it limits
ted their constitutional right to assemble. students' rights in disciplinary proceedings
Besides this restriction on students' right and limits their right to open such proceed-
to peaceably rally, students must also ings to the public, among other restrictions.
curb their messages so as not to offend FIRE hopes to file suits in all 12 feder-
any group or student. According to the al appellate courts over the next year so as
school, offending comments can range to obtain unconstitutional rulings on such
from anti-abortion slogans to race-con- codes across the country. Speech and con-
scious stand-up comedians. duct codes often not only suppress free-
Recently, other universities have faced dom of expression, but they also limit the
conflicts regarding their student codes of free flow of information between groups.
conduct. Last November, the Black Law Outside of the classroom, students benefit
Students Association proposed the cre- immensely from a vibrant discourse.
ation of a speech code at Harvard Law Restricting such discussion only dampens
School that would have taken the outra- the college experience.
Organized sprawl
New council is an opportunity to curb urban sprawl
listening blue freshwater lakes,
rolling hills and dense, green forests
cover and surround the two peninsu-
las comprising the state of Michigan. Ours is
a state of immense natural beauty and valu-
able natural treasures. This natural beauty is
a resource that draws tourists and tourist dol-
lars and is a great boon to the state economy.
These picturesque landscapes, howev-
er, are being destroyed as a result of what
is commonly referred to as "urban
sprawl." Not only does it damage the envi-
ronment, but urban sprawl poses a serious
threat to the economy, the state budget and
urban communities as citizens migrate to
more rural and suburban areas.
In order to address this issue, Gov.
Jennifer Granholm initiated plans on
February 5 to establish the Michigan Land
Use Leadership Council, a 24-member
group charged with the task of overseeing
statewide development. The council is joint-
ly led by former Gov. William Milliken, a
Republican, and former Attorney General
Frank Kelley, a Democrat, in the hopes of
forming a well-respected, bipartisan coali-
tion to meet this challenge. Members of the
council include representatives from envi-
ronmental groups, building industries, elect-
ed officials, the business community and
local government officials. The mission of
this council is to investigate the possible ben-
efits and consequences of development, then
advise the governor and the community.
One of the issues being considered by the
council is urban flight. A state such as
Michigan with so much natural, undevel-
oped land attracts many people seeking to
flee congested inner-city areas such as
Detroit and Grand Rapids. This flight
encourages further expansion and develop-
ment of rural areas, which in turn become
congested and encourage further flight and
expansion. The council is investigating
means of revitalizing these inner-city urban
zones in the hopes of preventing further
flight. It is important that the state begin to
rein in on this problem so that future gener-
ations will not be faced with an even more 1
daunting task.
According to state Rep. Chris Kolb
(D-Ann Arbor), a member of the council,
the rate of development is increasing at a
rate that is five times faster than popula-
tion growth. He has described this ineffi-
cient land use by saying that Michigan
residents will use as much land to house
the next one million people in Michigan
as the first nine million.
Kolb also points out that the cost of
building infrastructure in order to maintain
sprawl amounts to 40 percent more funds
than the additional development generates
in tax revenues. It seems apparent that curb-
ing sprawl is both sound economic and fis-
cal policy. It is also good policy for the
state's cities, as funds spent on sprawl are
not invested in urban areas.
Urban, rural and suburban leaders must
work together if this problem is to be tack-
led in a meaningful way. The bickering
that so often characterizes the discussion
on this issue does not serve the state's
economy or environment well.
That is why it is encouraging that the gov-
ernor has decided to include representatives
from a variety of communities and con-
stituencies that can work together to take
some positive steps. This inclusive approach
will give citizens confidence that their views
are being represented within the council.
Hopefully this council will begin to set
the state on a path of more efficient and
practical land use.