After U-M Decision, Plaintiff Rejoins Battle After U-M Decision, Plaintiff Rejoins Battle
Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/news/education/qa13_20040113.htm
By Maryanne George, Free Press Staff Writer
January 13 , 2004, Section: Education News
Jennifer Gratz will lead a campaign to let Michigan voters decide this fall whether to ban affirmative action in university admissions and state contracting and hiring.
Her name is familiar because Gratz was a plaintiff in the lawsuits that led to last summer's landmark Supreme Court decisions upholding the limited use of race in college admissions decisions.
Gratz sued the University of Michigan in 1997 after not being admitted, despite the good grades, test scores and leadership skills she showed at Southgate Anderson High School. She said she was turned down while less-qualified minorities got in. She earned a degree at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Now she has returned to Michigan as executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, the offshoot of Ward Connerly's American Civil Rights Institute in California. Connerly has led similar and successful efforts in California and Washington.
Gratz's immediate job is to coordinate volunteers circulating petitions to place the issue on the November ballot. They must collect the signatures of about 318,000 registered voters in six months.
In an interview, Gratz, 26, explained why she decided to quit her job as a product manager at a San Diego software company. She plans to see her husband, Rob Whyte, on weekends until he is able to move to Michigan. QUESTION: Why did you decide to lead the petition drive?
ANSWER: Because I believe racial preferences and gender preferences are wrong and hurt all people, including underrepresented minorities. I also do not want anyone to go through what I went through.
Q: Do you plan to run for political office after the campaign?
A: I doubt it. This is strictly about this issue.
Q: Were you recruited by Connerly for this job, or did you volunteer?
A: The day after the lawsuits were decided, I called Ward Connerly and said we need to do this. . . . I told him this is something I feel strongly about and will do whatever is necessary to help out, even if that means coming back to Michigan.
Q: Are you prepared for the scrutiny from the public and the media that will come with this job?
A. I don't think I'll ever be fully comfortable standing up at a press conference. But you have to make sacrifices for what you believe in. If you don't stand up for what you believe in, you can't expect anyone else to.
Q: Do you think you will gather enough signatures to get this amendment on the ballot? What will you do to help the campaign?
A: I wouldn't be here if I didn't think we would be successful.I will help organize our volunteers. I will be helping with fund-raising. I will circulate petitions.
Q: If there was a dramatic decline in minorities on the U-M campus as a result of this amendment, would that be OK with you?
A: It would not be OK, but I don't think that's going to happen. There are plenty of students out there,minority or non-minority, who have the character, the merit and the achievement to be accepted at the university. I think it's sad that institutions will tell minority students that they need this.
Copyright © 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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