Even as educators, students and politicians were absorbing the latest blow to affirmative action, a similar drama was playing itself out closer to home Tuesday.
University of Illinois at Chicago students, armed with a list of demands, arrived at Chancellor David Broski’s office asking a question echoed on campuses across the country: What is the university’s commitment to minority students?
The issue at UIC that angered students was not as high profile as Proposition 209, the California ban that fueled a national debate on affirmative action and prompted a federal suit that ended in failure Monday.
It was a simple program known as priority registration, which allowed some students–many of them minorities–to register for classes early. Priority registration for minority students at UIC has come to have great symbolic meaning.
“What minority students fear is everything being taken away eventually–from the support programs to the different scholarships,” said Yazmin Sanchez, a student trustee. “We fear everything being taken away slowly.”
In a one-line order Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to get involved in a dispute over California’s ban, fueling speculation that further disintegration of affirmative action programs will follow.
But legal scholars are quick to point out that there is little reason to believe that as California goes, so goes Illinois. There has not been a legislative or legal challenge to affirmative action here, as has occurred in 26 other states. Still, some officials believe legal challenges to certain programs are inevitable.
Taking the offensive, Rev. Jesse Jackson met privately with Mayor Richard Daley at City Hall on Tuesday, urging him to reject any move to curb the city’s affirmative action policies.
“The impact of that state’s rights initiative is to radically resegregate schools and jobs and ownership and to reduce opportunity,” Jackson said.
The city’s affirmative action policies are broken into two main categories: contracts and hiring. For contracts, the city has a goal of awarding 25 percent to minority-owned firms and 5 percent to women-owned firms, said Nina Cadsawan, spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department.
There are no strict guidelines for hiring minorities, though the city “has a policy of ensuring that there are opportunities for minorities and women,” she said.
At many colleges and universities, campus leaders said the Supreme Court’s ruling should have little effect, at least for the time being.
“It is important to understand that the Supreme Court did not decide anything,” said David Merkowitz of the American Council on Education. “It only left in place the lower court ruling. The only state that is directly affected is California.”
Many university officials in the Chicago area agreed, saying they planned to continue with long-standing affirmative action programs. Some said they never used racial preferences in admissions in the first place.
At UIC, Broski said he would maintain the ban on preference for minorities in early registration but keep intact other programs such as minority student academic support programs and minority scholarships. He also said he would guarantee that students get the courses they need to graduate in four years.
But he said he would have lawyers begin to review the university’s programs involving any sort of preference–including programs especially for women–expecting a legal challenge down the road.
In a letter circulated to students, Broski reiterated that “there should be no doubt that the university will continue to uphold the policies we have adopted to promote diversity.”
Other college officials agreed that though they planned to tread carefully, there was no need to overhaul programs.
“My feeling is that all institutions are making absolutely sure they are in compliance,” said University of Chicago vice president Michael Behnke, referring to a two-decades-old Supreme Court ruling that laid the groundwork for much affirmative action on campuses.
“We do take race into consideration, and we are better for it because we have a diverse student body.”
Behnke said universities that have found themselves vulnerable to affirmative action challenges use strict formulas for enrollment based solely on race. The University of Chicago uses a variety of criteria.
Rosalie Hewitt, Northern Illinois University associate provost, said she believes NIU’s policies also should hold up to any challenge. NIU has an alternate admissions programs for disadvantaged students, but that program, while used heavily for minority students, is not strictly set aside for them.
At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which uses race as a factor in some graduate student admissions, officials also say they plan to continue with affirmative action programs.
“Some people believe every day we are getting closer to some sort of challenge,” said Ronald D. Rotunda, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign law professor.
“Whether that will be tomorrow or 10 years from now, no one knows. Until then, we have no reason to change.”
