Law school professor Kate Weatherly, a former student at the University of Michigan and former editor of the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, gave statistical information on how the university chooses its students at
Less than a month remains before the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for controversial Affirmative Action programs at the University of Michigan. In anticipation, the University Center on Diversity and Community held a panel discussion to debate the implications of the decisions on higher education Wednesday.
The complaints, filed by white students who claim they were denied admission to the University of Michigan’s undergraduate and law programs in favor of lesser-qualified students of color, was the main topic of debate at “The End of Affirmative Action? Diversity, Higher Education and Public Policy.”
“Affirmative Action is either as old as the sun or as new as the 1960s,” said moderator Keith Aoki, an associate professor at the University School of Law.
University School of Law Instructor Kate Weatherly, a former associate editor of the Michigan Journal on Race and Law and student at the University of Michigan when the lawsuits were filed, said the university favors white students.
“It’s the biggest Civil Rights case in 25 years,” she said.
Weatherly said that out of 25,000 freshman admission applications university officials receive, they choose 5,000 on a point system that favors Caucasian students.
“They do say they look at each one individually,” she said sarcastically.
Out of 150 points, Weatherly said 110 are based on academic achievements such as high SAT scores and high school grades. Forty points are based on other factors — 20 for minority status and 20 for those who are in a social or economic advantage. She said students cannot qualify for both categories.
“Those (social and economic disadvantage points) are for poor white people,” she said.
Panelist Tomas Nullick Baiza, assistant director of multicultural recruitment in University Admissions, said the University of Michigan’s defense of Affirmative Action is nothing more than a symbolic gesture because the university is close to a large black population.
“It goes a long way to recruit 90-95 percent of African Americans,” he said.
Baiza said that while he supports Affirmative Action, it would be foolish to not invent a new strategy for diversifying universities because the programs will not last forever.
“We need to look for a new vehicle,” he said.
About 80 students, faculty and community members attended the panel discussion, which also included University School of Law Associate Professor Garrett Epps, Norman Dorsen Fellow and Wayne Morse Fellow John Branam, Director of the University Affirmative Action Office Penny Daugherty, Associate Professor in the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business Marc Weinstein and Chief of Human Resources for the Oregon Department of Transportation Rudy Williams.
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