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

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Chairs representing those denied admission to the University due to a change 
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