Group debates affirmative action

January 22, 2004

By AL ELVIN of The Daily Oakland Press 01/23/2004

In an effort to present both sides of an often heated affirmative action debate, a local Republican group hosted a panel, complete with both sides of the argument.

The discussion came on the heels of an announced petition drive to halt affirmative action polices as they are now.

"It's a subject that there is a lot of passion about on both sides," said Jim Runestad, president of the North Oakland Republican Club. "Everybody, regardless of what side they were on, was able to learn something while they were here." Present at the debate were state Rep. Leon Drolet, R-Clinton Township, Dr. Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University and Jennifer Gratz, executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative and one of a group of women who sued the University of Michigan over its admission policies.

Both Gratz and Drolet argued for a change of current affirmative action policies, while Sedler campaigned against the controversial proposed amendment to the constitution.

Gratz's group needs 319,000 valid signatures on circulated petitions by July 6 to get the issue on the November general election ballot.

"We've been circulating for a week and a half, and we've had a huge response," she said. "I've been answering e-mails for about 17 hours a day."

Drolet said a common misconception about the initiative is that it would prohibit affirmative action.

"It's an initiative to prohibit race-gender preferences, which is different," he said. "It is immoral when the government makes assumptions about people based on how they look. Our issue is to end the concept of the government collecting people into groups and assigning to them privileges and benefits based on their appearance." Drolet said he could condone privileges based on other factors such as socioeconomic status.

While describing the admissions policy into the University of Michigan, Gratz said the public university uses race as a means of determining who might or might not get in, with other factors being equal.

Sedler remarked that potential students are also shown preference based on having gone to affluent private schools such as Birmingham-Detroit Country Day, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood or having a parent or grandparent who is a Michigan alum. "You don't get any points for having gone to Southgate," he argued.

Sedler continued, saying that if all students were judged equally, some who achieved at less-demanding schools would benefit, while those who achieved at more demanding schools would suffer more.

At least one person in attendance, an African-American woman, stated that she would be in favor of eliminating all factors other than academic achievement and ACT scores, including athletic ability.

Drolet agreed, saying that as soon as this initiative passes that he wanted to include such an amendment, but then added that, "There is some merit to athletics." The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative has a Web site where petitions can be downloaded. The Web address is www.mcri2004.org.



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