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Governor backs affirmative action plan
Associated Press
FILE PHOTO
Gov. Granholm's plan to support Univ. of Michigan's affirmative action policy, continues to draw national attention.
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Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to file a brief supporting the University of Michigan’s affirmative action admissions policy within a week, a spokeswoman said Monday.
The Democratic governor filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case on the state’s behalf in 2001, while she was attorney general and the case was before the U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
Now that the case is before the U.S. Supreme Court, she’s throwing the full weight of the state’s highest office behind the university’s lawsuit.
“When she files that brief, it will be filed in time to meet the deadline and she will file it as chief executive officer of the state,” Granholm spokeswoman Elizabeth Boyd said Monday.
“She’s supportive of the university’s position.”
Although Granholm did not comment directly on the new brief, she told The Associated Press last fall that she thought the university was taking the right stance.
“I support universities being free to decide the makeup of their student body and believe that a diverse student body creates a better learning environment,” she said.
Granholm asked Republican Attorney General Mike Cox to submit the brief, but he declined, Cox spokesman Sage Eastman said.
“He’s supportive of diversity measures, but thinks those that are used in states like Florida and Texas are more constitutionally sound,” Eastman said.
That position is similar to that of GOP President George W. Bush, who said on Jan. 15 that he supported diversity in higher education, but said Michigan “unfairly rewards or penalizes students based solely on their race.”
The next day, the administration filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the university’s policies.
Michigan’s admissions policies have been under fire since 1997, when it was sued by two whites denied admission to its undergraduate school and a third denied admission to its law school.
Each claimed they were passed over in favor of less-qualified minority students. Applicants for Michigan’s undergraduate classes are scored by points, with minorities or some poor applicants receiving a boost of 20 points on a scale of 150.
At the law school, admissions officers use a looser formula that tries to ensure each class has a “critical mass” of about 10 or 12 percent minority enrollment.
The Bush administration says the point system is skewed toward minorities, noting that a perfect SAT score is worth just 12 points, and an outstanding essay gets three points. The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled back-to-back arguments on the two lawsuits for April 1.
The Bush administration is expected to ask the high court this month for permission to participate in the Apr. 1 oral arguments.
Michigan spokeswoman Julie Peterson welcomed Granholm’s backing and said the university expects more than 50 briefs representing the support of more than 200 organizations to be filed by the Feb. 18 deadline.
“That includes everything from states to members of Congress to Fortune 500 companies to retired military leaders to law students all over the country,” she said.
“We have just had a tremendous amount of support from all over the country.”
The cases are Grutter v. Bollinger, 02-241 and Gratz v. Bollinger, 02-516.
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