Minority enrollment at higher education institutions already was sloping downward before the 2006 ban on affirmative action. A new report from a Detroit-based advocacy group shows that trend continued even after the ban, but large universities — MSU included — have been the exception to the rule.
MSU has managed to keep a stable level of minority enrollment, even after voters passed Proposal 2 to ban affirmative action.
“I think the ban definitely sent a signal,” said Steve Spreitzer, director of programs with the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and inclusion, the group that did the study. “They found new ways because they value diverse learning.”
Spreitzer said university officials thought of other ways to promote diversity.
Between heavy recruiting efforts in urban areas and reaching out to underrepresented high school students, MSU managed to keep its minority enrollment steady over the past 10 years, data show.
Universities can’t use race, gender or religion as a criteria for admissions. But institutions can use socioeconomic status as a factor, said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.
That’s one of the ways MSU tries to promote diversity, but acceptance to the university doesn’t hinge on that factor alone, she said.
“Michigan State’s review of the student’s file has always been holistic,” she said. “Even prior to Prop. 2.”
Granberry Russell said using race even just as one factor among many is illegal. Yet even before the 2006 voter-approved law, she says MSU judged students in a “holistic” manner.
“We still look at the range of experiences that a student has,” Granberry Russell said. “We want not only students that might fall into middle class, but certainly those students that may not fall into that category.”
Many are awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court’s reevaluation of a 2011 ruling in the court of appeals that overturned the ban in Michigan.
Universities could be able to use race as a factor again if the appeals court ruling stands, a sharply unpopular measure among conservatives. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette pushed for the ruling to be reevaluated, and the Supreme Court accepted that challenge in May.
Legal scholars, such as MSU law professor Philip Pucillo, already are speculating on the outcome. Pucillo said he thinks the court will reverse the decision.
“Whatever the U.S. Supreme Court does in the fall will have a significant impact,” Pucillo said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
