U-M
law school admissions stall U-M
law school admissions stall
Injunction appealed while applicants wait during a busy season
March 29, 2001
BY MARYANNE GEORGE
FREE PRESS ANN ARBOR BUREAU
Neftara Clark always dreamed of going to the University of Michigan Law School. But now her application is locked in the school's admissions office with thousands of others as U-M lawyers prepare to appeal a federal judge's ruling that the school's race-conscious admissions policy is unconstitutional. On Wednesday, U-M lawyers filed a motion to put on hold an injunction issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, barring the law school from using race as a factor in its admissions process.
The injunction has effectively halted law school admissions. Friedman's ruling Tuesday that the school's policy is unconstitutional comes at the height of the admissions season, when admissions counselors are reviewing files at an "almost nonstop pace," according to court documents filed Wednesday. In the documents, U-M officials said the law school will suffer irreparable harm in the admissions process if the injunction stands. "I'm on an emotional rollercoaster," said Clark, 22, of Battle Creek, who received her U-M undergraduate degree last August. "I called them two weeks ago and they said my application was still being reviewed." Clark, who is black, said she had thought about applying to a historically black college, but decided to aim at a law school that reflects the diversity of the real world.
Now she's concerned that she'll be penalized in a race-blind admissions process. The law school has received about 4,000 applicants, and must extend between 1,050 and 1,200 offers in order to enroll a class of about 350 students for the fall. So far it has made 826 offers of admission, including 80 to underrepresented minorities and 596 to white applicants.
For the summer session, which begins May 29, 70 applicants have been admitted, while another 100 offers must be made in the next 10 days to fill that section, according to the U-M documents. If Friedman has not issued a stay of his injunction by Monday, U-M lawyers will request a stay from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals when they file a notice that they will appeal Friedman's overall decision in the case, said Liz Barry, U-M's deputy general counsel.
On Monday, the circuit court agreed to hear the appeal in a similar case regarding U-M's undergraduate admissions policy. In that case, U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan upheld a policy that uses a point system to determine who gets in. A student can receive points for being an underrepresented minority as well as for being from Michigan, for having a parent who graduated from U-M or for other reasons. Larry Purdy, one of several lawyers representing law school plaintiff Barbara Grutter of Plymouth Township, said they will oppose U-M's request to stay the injunction and oppose U-M's appeal of the case.
Grutter sued the law school in 1997, claiming she was denied admission in favor of less-qualified minorities. Jeff Lehman, dean of the law school, said as soon as Friedman's ruling was issued Tuesday he directed counselors to stop extending offers of admission. Students who intend to enroll must send a $200 deposit by mid-April to reserve a seat, he said. Lehman said Friedman's ruling is only the first of many expected in the case, which seems ultimately headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the request for the stay of the injunction, U-M lawyers argued that the admissions office "cannot simply surgically excise the consideration of race from application review overnight." The two lawsuits over law school and undergraduate admissions policies have brought U-M to the center of the national debate on affirmative action. Today, National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" show will broadcast live from 2-4 p.m. at U-M's Rackham Auditorium. Minority students have also planned a noon rally on the U-M Diag to protest Friedman's ruling.
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