Cincinnati Court Questions Affirmative Action Policies
by Matthew Green

At 5 a.m. on Thursday, while most of the campus slept, a chartered bus full of Oberlin students headed south to Cincinnati to participate in a rally in support of affirmative action. The rally was held in Fountain Square, a half block away from the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where nine judges, seven white and two black, are currently deciding whether the affirmative action policy of the undergraduate and law schools of the University of Michigan are constitutional.
The ruling, which may take weeks or months, could affect both public and private academic institutions in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, including small liberal arts colleges like Oberlin. There is a strong possibility the case will be brought to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that universities may not use racial quotas but may consider race as a factor when selecting students. This ruling, however, has been interpreted differently by various lower courts.
The University of Michigan admits to considering race in its admissions policies, claiming, according to its lawyer, that diversity improves the education of all of its students. The school’s lawyer claimed that race was just one among several other deciding factors, such as academic achievement and economic status.
The University was brought to court by opponents of affirmative action who claim that such a policy can illegally discriminate against white applicants who are rejected in favor of less-qualified minority applicants.
According to reports, nearly 200 activists marched from the University of Cincinnati to the courthouse for the rally yesterday, despite a persistent cold rain. An appearance was made by the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader.
Thirty-three Oberlin students attended the rally and 3 students were able to witness the entire court case. Junior Nick Stahelin is the main organizer of the Oberlin Coalition for Affirmative Action, a student group that formed largely in response to the current court case.
“We are going to try to use our voices and bodies as political power to affect the court’s decision,” Stahelin said, noting that judicial institutions have historically been shown to be swayed by public opinion, regardless of whether they are technically supposed to be.
“This seemed like a very important issue. Education is at the root of a lot of the problems society faces,” Stahelin said. Stahelin learned of the court case on Oct. 23, when it was originally scheduled to take place. “Affirmative action is an issue that a diversity of people at Oberlin have a stake in.”
The group is specifically geared toward building a campus coalition of individuals, groups and communities who will join together in support of affirmative action. Aside from organizing people for the rally, the group also will circulate a petition and bring in speakers in an attempt to make people aware of what is happening.
Oberlin Coalition for Affirmative Action was also resposible for organizing last week’s forum, in which members of the BAMN coalition, a national affirmative action group, spoke to a packed lounge in Afrikan Heritage House. BAMN was among the main organizers of yesterday’s rally.

Stahelin and others have expressed concern over the threat that this case poses to affirmative action policies in schools across the country. Referring to recent actions such as Proposition 209 in California, which in 1996 forced the state university system to abolish affirmative action, he fears that gains made in affirmative action since the civil rights era are in danger of being “eaten away.”

Some see this case as potentially directly affecting Oberlin College’s admission policies. Like the University of Michigan, Oberlin considers race in its admission policies.

“Oberlin seeks to build a richly diverse student body,” College President Nancy Dye said, emphasizing that the College works hard to attract students of color. Although admission decisions are made on a “individual by individual basis,” and there are no formal policies based on numbers and quotas, the College claims to have a goal of creating a diverse student body.

“One of the things we look at is diversity. We think diversity has a strong educational value for everyone at the College,” Dye said. “We do grant preference.”

Dye, who thinks there is a strong likelihood that the current case will end up in the Supreme Court, expressed concern over its outcome. She emphasized that Oberlin, which receives some federal funding, could be affected if University of Michigan’s admission policies are ruled unconstitutional.

“If [the court] said that you could not use race as a factor, which we do, and you must be able to demonstrate that you don’t — that would require some thought,” she said, noting that it would make it more difficult for Oberlin to maintain its current level of diversity. “We think that would be a blow both to diversity and also to educational quality.”