Applications by minorities fall at the Univ. of Michigan

[CShine]

Minority student applications to the University of Michigan -- the subject of the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmative action decision last year -- are down 23 percent compared to the same time last year.

Preliminary figures for next fall's freshman class also show that the number of African-American, Hispanic and American Indian students admitted so far is down 30 percent. Overall applications are down by about 18 percent while many colleges elsewhere are reporting increases.

"We are concerned about it," Michigan admissions director Ted Spencer said. Spencer emphasized that the data are preliminary because about one-third of the applications have not been reviewed. He predicted the percentage of minority students in the freshman class will "change slightly upwards."

As of Monday, about 6.5 percent of admitted students are minorities, compared to 9 percent at this point last year. The application deadline was Feb. 1, and minority students tend to apply closer to the deadline, he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&ncid=2027&e=12&u=/chitribts/20040210/ts_chicagotrib/applicationsbyminoritiesfallatuofm

[theHandpuppet]

1. Well, I guess the message was clear...

Unless you're a minority student attending on an athletic scholarship you're not welcome at U of Michigan. Nice goin', Wolverines. <sarcasm off>

[CShine]

2. Well actually.........

.......UM fought to keep affirmative action. The Supreme Court stopped them from doing it.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Yep, I realize that...

I was referring more to the negative UM image generated by the lawsuit and the publicity surrounding it, including comments from some UM students who appeared to be just right of Rush Limbaugh. The media nutjobs were really having a field day with this issue. I have to say if I were a minority student shopping for a college, Michigan wouldn't look that inviting! (BTW, Tom "Bushlicker" Brady isn't helping UM's image as a progressive university, either --an image which is becoming increasingly white, RW and elitist.)

[Karenina]

5. "Mission Accomplished."

.

[fortyfeetunder]

3. Simplifying a complex subject

First we've got individuals like Connerly and Thomas, who more than likely got their start professionally through affirmative action, who feel that it was such an awful thing to be identified by race, they are compelled to pull the rug from the rest of the minority population.

Not to mention that we have a pResident who barely got out of high school but managed by legacy to attend Ivy League schools with dismal GPAs, but yet he also dismisses affirmative action too.

THen there is this "meritocracy" that believes only a scholar (that is your SAT better be damned near 1600 and GPA close to straight A's" to even think of applying for admission -- if there is no talent scholarship or legacy admission.

Coupled with the fact that most minority groups (and I am speaking of Black and Native American) have had limited privilege to gain a quality education over the last 300 years this country had been populated. And most of them are expected to have caught up by today (hmmm, let's see school integration came about 50 years ago, and full civil rights came about about 40 years ago) as compared with the rest of the population who had that privilege from the gitgo. And then when these minority populations start to make gains, there is a cry of "reverse discrimination" from those who had the privilege from the gitgo.

Terribly complex, but we have yahoos like Connerly and his recruits trying to simplify it...sad state of affairs we have!