Students voice concern
that DOJ investigation
will further marginalize
minority groups
By CHETALI JAIN
Summer Daily News Editor
Last Monday, The New York
Times
uncovered
the
Trump
administration’s intentions to fun-
nel Justice Department resources
into examining and potentially fil-
ing lawsuits against colleges and
universities who take racial back-
ground into consideration when
making admissions decisions. Mil-
lions were left wondering what
effect the investigation and pros-
ecution would have on students
who come from underprivileged
backgrounds.
Such considerations, or affirma-
tive action policies, were originally
meant to level the playing field for
disadvantaged
applicants.
Sup-
porters of affirmative action state
such policies are meant to take into
account the access an individual
has to resources that make them
a stronger college applicant. They
would argue that groups such as
African Americans and women
who have historically been exclud-
ed from U.S. society are given a
fair opportunity to succeed while
opponents believe it fosters reverse
racism.
Though the U.S. Supreme Court
deemed it constitutional for race to
be a factor in admissions decisions,
eight states have banned this con-
sideration, Michigan included.
According to Kim Broekhuizen,
University of Michigan spokes-
woman, the University will con-
tinue to watch for developments in
the matter.
“As always, the University fol-
lows all applicable state and federal
laws,” Broekhuizen wrote in an
email.
Despite the legal restriction of
affirmative action policies at the
University under Proposal 2, a
measure which bans Michigan col-
leges from using race as a factor in
their admissions decisions, minor-
ity students like recent University
alum Will Royster still live in a
reality where they face unfounded
assumptions regarding their place
on campus.
In an interview, Royster recalled
how his identity as a Black male
often caused people to question
his intelligence and his reason for
being at the University. Royster
studied mathematics and African
American studies during his time
on campus and tutored other stu-
dents in mathematics.
“People will naturally think
I’m an athlete …(they) think I’m
an athlete because I’m black and I
go to the University of Michigan,”
Royster said. “Or it’s constant
probes about (my) intelligence …
even when I was in the Engineer-
ing school, there would be times
when people didn’t want to be in
my group for a project not know-
ing that I had one of the highest
grades in the class. Plenty of times
I’m in my math class and I get A’s
… and people didn’t want to be in
my group. When I (tutor) someone
that is of a more privileged identi-
ty … and I show him how to get the
answer, and I was able to success-
fully do this, it’s a startling thing
(for him).”
Other students and faculty
members have also been affect-
ed by the controversial topic of
affirmative action; this past win-
ter semester, 950 maize and blue
chairs were placed in the Diag to
signify the students from minority
backgrounds who wouldn’t attend
the University due to Proposal 2.
Postdoctoral
fellow
Austin
McCoy studies racial justice. In
a message, he said the proposed
investigation contradicts the real-
ity of race in admissions.
“The DOJ’s proposal to inves-
tigate colleges’ and universities’
affirmative action policies are
based in a faulty assumption that
race conscious forms of redress
have a disparate impact on white
Americans as a group,” he wrote.
“This faulty assumption belies the
fact, at least in the context of UM
before the passage of Proposal 2,
that white students tend to enjoy
a higher rate of acceptance and
admission
despite
race-based
affirmative action policies.”
Public Policy junior Lauren
Schandevel, public relations chair
of College Democrats and a col-
umnist for the Daily, said the plans
to look into intentional race-based
discrimination will only hurt
diversity and underprivileged stu-
dents.
“Trump’s assertion that white
people are disadvantaged by affir-
mative action policies is absurd
and damaging to students of color,
who already feel alienated by pri-
marily white institutions,” Schan-
devel said.
Conversely,
Amanda
Dele-
kta, who is the vice president of
internal affairs for the University
chapter of College Republicans,
believes it is not the responsibility
of colleges to make considerations
regarding a student’s background
during the admissions process. In
an email, she explained she feels
that applicants should be select-
ed based on merit alone and that
admission policies that take into
account race are unjust.
“Affirmative action policies at col-
leges and universities are inherently
2
Thursday, August 10, 2017
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Chairs representing those denied admission to the University due to a change
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