Quick trial expected in U-M affirmative action lawsuit; Diversity
defense may raise past race relations Quick trial expected in U-M affirmative action lawsuit; Diversity
defense may raise past race relations
November 17, 2000
By David Coates
The Detroit News
DETROIT -- After hearing the first arguments in the University of Michigan's landmark affirmative action lawsuit, a judge suggested he won't need a lengthy trial to decide whether creating a diverse student body justifies U-M's admissions policy.
But U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan left open the option of hearing testimony on whether past discrimination can justify U-M's practice of giving minority applicants a boost. That could put U-M officials in an uneasy position of discussing the past campus environment for African-American, Hispanic and Native American students.
Duggan is expected to rule within days on Thursday's arguments, in which both sides asked him to issue an immediate ruling in their favor. If he rejects the arguments, a trial -- or selected testimony on some issues -- would likely begin in early December.
In addition to Thursday's oral arguments, the judge also will consider piles of briefs, expert testimony and prior witness interviews already submitted.
If Duggan decides not to hear testimony on the benefits of diversity -- the thrust of U-M's defense -- a trial would be significantly shorter.
The lawsuit, filed in 1997 by two white applicants who say they were discriminated against in favor of less-qualified minority students, will decide whether U-M can consider an applicant's race in putting together a diverse student body, which university officials say is legal and essential for a modern education. The case will likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court and have repercussions at the nation's public colleges.
Both sides agree race is used in the admissions process, and U-M officials say it is legal used as one of many factors. The plaintiffs argue race illegally becomes a decisive factor that discriminates against white applicants.
"We take issue with the double standard the University of Michigan imposes on the process to the detriment of many," said the plaintiff's lead attorney, Kirk Kolbo of the Minneapolis firm Maslon, Edelman, Borman and Brand.
A lawyer for U-M said that Americans, including those in segregated Metro Detroit, too often lead separate lives. "Having a racially and ethnically diverse student body improves the education for all students," said civil rights attorney John Payton, lead counsel for U-M.
But race is not the only factor U-M considers, he said. It also considers geographic background, the strength of a high school and whether a students' parents are alumni.
A group of minority students who have intervened in the case to defend the admissions policies say the alumni factor is one reason minority applicants need extra points. An overwhelming percentage of U-M graduates are white, and admitting their children perpetuates past discrimination against minority applicants, they argue.
Theodore Shaw, who represents the minority students, argued that diversity is not the only argument for affirmative action. U-M's past exclusion of minority students justifies the policies, he said.
The three sides spent most of the two-hour hearing arguing why affirmative action's complex and controversial legal precedent -- a 1978 Supreme Court decision in Bakke v. University of California Regents -- favors their position. In that ruling, which found dual admissions systems unconstitutional, Justice Lewis Powell also found that universities could consider race as a "plus" factor to get a diverse student body, one that could best contribute to the "robust exchange of ideas."
Attorneys in the U-M case have vastly differing interpretations of Powell's opinion. U-M says it allows them to consider race to get a diverse class, even if race becomes the factor that tips the balance in an applicant's favor. The plaintiffs argue that colleges can strive for an intellectually diverse class, but cannot give extra weight to race alone.
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