State Backs University Of Michigan Joins 21 Others In Filing Court
Brief In Affirmative Action Case State Backs University Of Michigan Joins 21 Others In Filing Court
Brief In Affirmative Action Case
By ROBERT A. FRAHM
Courant Staff Writer
February 19 2003
Twenty-two states, including Connecticut, filed a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday supporting the University of Michigan's race-conscious admissions policies. The court is scheduled to hear arguments in the spring in two cases seeking to overturn Michigan's affirmative action policies. The cases are being watched closely by colleges and universities as they attempt to build student bodies of various races and backgrounds.
"A Supreme Court decision turning back the clock on affirmative action would be a disaster for Connecticut higher education," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose staff worked on a friend-of-the-court brief. Blumenthal said in a press release that a rejection of affirmative action could resegregate America's public colleges and "would be a tragic mistake of law and policy."
Other groups, including the Bush administration, filed briefs earlier urging the Supreme Court to rule against Michigan's affirmative action policies. The president contends that the Michigan policies unfairly burden white applicants and place a disproportionate emphasis on race. The Michigan cases were filed on behalf of two white students who were denied admission to Michigan's law school and its main undergraduate program.
In Connecticut, some colleges, including the University of Connecticut, consider race as a factor in admissions but do not use a point system similar to the one used by Michigan. A ruling in the Michigan cases would be crucial mainly at the nation's most prestigious and selective campuses, said Walter Harrison, a former University of Michigan official and now president at the University of Hartford.
If the most selective schools "did not include race as a factor ... they would be largely white and Asian," mainly because white and Asian students have been better prepared for college and perform better on admissions tests, said Harrison, a vice president at the University of Michigan from 1989 to 1998. Harrison, who was part of Michigan's effort to create a more racially diverse campus, said it is important for selective schools to attract students of all backgrounds because "those schools, like it or not, are gateways to leadership in our society."
Tuesday was the deadline for Michigan supporters to file briefs. However, Monday's snowstorm prompted the court to close Tuesday and the deadline was extended until the clerk's office reopened, most likely today. The briefs included one prepared by black law students at Yale, Harvard and Stanford universities.
An Associated Press story is included in this report.
Copyright 2003, Hartford Courant
News and Announcements | AAD Home Page