U-M Loses Minority Applicants U-M Loses Minority Applicants
23% drop linked to affirmative action battle
The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0402/10/a01e-60375.htm
By Brad Heath
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
ANN ARBOR -- The number of minority high school students seeking a spot at the University of Michigan dropped sharply this year, and school officials attribute the decline in part to court-ordered changes in its admissions policy and a brewing battle over the future of affirmative action.
The 23 percent decline in applications from blacks, Hispanics and American Indians came as the total number of people applying for space in the next freshman class dropped 18 percent, according to figures U-M released Monday.
“Obviously, we’re concerned that the applications from minority students are down more than the population as a whole,” U-M spokeswoman Julie Peterson said. Because the university still hasn’t made most of its decisions about whom it will actually admit, it’s too soon to say whether the change will lead to a less diverse class in the fall, Peterson said.
Peterson blamed the larger dropoff among minority applicants, in part, on the cloud still surrounding affirmative action because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision clarifying how it can be used, the “hostile” language of an ongoing ballot initiative to ban the practice and the more difficult application process the court’s decision created.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that U-M can consider students’ race in deciding whom to admit, but ordered it to scrap a system that awarded points toward admission based on race. Now, opponents of affirmative action in Michigan are gathering signatures to force a public vote on whether to ban consideration of race altogether in university admissions and government hiring.
“I think students don’t understand that we still have affirmative action, and I think the ballot initiative is causing some anxiety,” Peterson said. “What students are worried about is, ‘Will I be welcomed and will I be going to a campus where I’m valued?’ ”
Opponents of affirmative action disagree, nothing that if anything, the court’s decision strengthened U-M’s ability to weigh students’ race in the admissions process.
“I really don’t see these decisions making it harder for minorities to get into the University of Michigan,” said Curt A. Levey, the legal director for the Center for Individual Rights, which championed the cases challenging affirmative action at U-M. “I expect the University of Michigan to be just as diverse as it was before, but it’s going to have to achieve that in a way that doesn’t automatically give you points for your skin color.”
One U-M supporter said the university should shoulder part of the blame for the lower application numbers. Cyril Cordor, a member of By Any Means Necessary, a group that supports affirmative action, said the school needs to take a stronger position supporting the use of race and be more vocal in opposing attempts to end it.
“The ongoing attacks on affirmative action and the fact that people are questioning whether we’re qualified to be here, is going to have an impact,” said Cordor, a math major from Georgia.
Other schools affected
Other schools also are noticing declines in minority applications.
The Supreme Court’s ruling forced Ohio State University to overhaul its application process last summer, in favor of one that relies more on essays. The school’s preliminary numbers show the total number of applications dropped nearly 9 percent and the number of minority applications dropped almost 13 percent, said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for admissions at OSU.
That will almost certainly lead to a less diverse freshman class next year, she said.
“There’s a real concern out there as a result of the Supreme Court case as to what’s going to happen. It’s having a chilling effect,” Freeman said. “That’s a real disappointment for us because this is a university that puts a high value on diversity.”
The need for a diverse student body was one of the central arguments in U-M’s defense of its affirmative action policies. Businesses, retired military officers and other schools joined in the case to warn that an end to affirmative action would result in fewer minorities being admitted to top-flight schools.
Others are skeptical that there’s such a strong connection between the case and the number of applications.
“I’m not sure what we’re expected to do in response to that,” said Tim O’Brien, campaign manager for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. The group is trying to put a measure before state voters that would bar public schools and other branches of government from considering someone’s race.
“Does that mean we should go back to a system that divides people up based on what color they are?” he said.
University officials cited other reasons for the lower number of minority applicants, including a tendency for minorities to apply toward the end of the admissions cycle.
They also cited the court case as a cause of the overall dropoff in applications, which fell from 24,447 last year to 20,125 this year. The school’s deadline was Feb. 1, but officials say they try to consider late applications as well, and they are still receiving more.
Hasty revisions
The Supreme Court’s ruling forced U-M and other universities to hastily revise the mechanisms by which considerations of race are made. That meant applications went out a month late, and when they did, they were loaded with essay questions that made applying more time-consuming, potentially discouraging some applicants.
It also mirrors a national trend in which students are applying to fewer schools. At Michigan State University, for instance, applications are down 15 percent this year.
U-M hopes to make most of its admissions decisions by mid-April. Afterward, officials say they will assess the revised policy to see what worked and what didn’t.
“Our hope and our theory is that the students who are dropping out of the applicant pool are the ones who weren’t likely to attend anyway,” Peterson said.
Detroit New Staff Writer Margarita Bauza’ contributed to this report. You can reach Brad Heath at (313) 222-2563 or bheath@detnews.com.
Copyright © 2004 The Detroit News
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