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. 4 4 4 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.