The Sixth United States Circuit Court of Appeals narrowly upheld the use of affirmative action in the University of Michigan Law School's admissions process on May 14, bolstering legal support for institutions like Dartmouth that consider race in admissions and faculty recruitment.
Yet with an upcoming case against Michigan's undergraduate program and prospects of appeals to the Supreme Court, the future of affirmative action at Dartmouth remains in doubt, despite increases of minorities in the College faculty, administration and student populations since the early 1970s.
Overturning a prior ruling by a federal judge in Detroit, the court affirmed a 1978 Supreme Court decision that schools may seek to admit a "critical mass" -- or a meaningful number -- of minorities, but cannot fulfill specific quotas.
Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg lauded the decision but said the upcoming case against affirmative action in undergraduate admissions at Michigan poses a greater concern for the current admissions procedures at Dartmouth.
"I'm pleased with the decision because it does reaffirm the way we do things here," Furstenberg said. This year, Dartmouth's undergraduate classes are comprised of six percent African-Americans, six percent Hispanics, 10 percent Asian-Americans, three percent Native Americans and five percent international students.
Race and other external factors are taken into consideration during Dartmouth's admissions process as each application is examined in an identical process, Furstenberg said.
Michigan, which uses a 150-point scale for all undergraduate applicants, adds 20 points to the scores of black, Hispanic and financially disadvantaged white applicants' scores.
An appeal of a Michigan judge's verdict upholding the undergraduate admissions system will likely be adjudicated in the coming month.
While the outcome of the upcoming cases will likely determine the future of affirmative action, Furstenberg said he is confident that demographic changes in high schools nationwide will perpetuate increasing minority representation in the student body even if colleges shrink minority recruitment.
Education Professor Peter Rodis, who supported the appeals court verdict, held a differing opinion.
"Demographic change will not guarantee equal minority representation in higher education. It takes more than that, it takes social, cultural and economic impetus and means," he said.
Schools in Texas and Louisiana are subject to the a 1996 federal appeals court decision striking down affirmative action at the University of Texas Law School.
The Center for Equal Opportunity, a Virginia-based policy institute opposed to affirmative-action, criticized the Universtiy of Virginia Law School after finding that "a student with an LSAT score of 160 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.25 had a 95-percent chance of admission if he or she was black, but only a 3-percent chance of admission if white," according to its website.
"I think a lot of people feel that eventually the Supreme Court will have to take one of these cases to resolve the matter at the highest level," Furstenberg said.
Dartmouth, though not affected by either appeals court ruling, is subject to the precedent established by the 1978 Supreme Court case, which justified affirmative action efforts on the basis that diversity is an essential component to education.
"To my way of thinking, cultural diversity and racial diversity is not just P.C., it is quite fitting to a university's mission intellectually," Rodis said, citing new emphasis on feminist political perspective and recent inquiries into the African-American take on the novel.
A 1999 University of Michigan study submitted during the law school trial produced empirical evidence supporting diversity at educational institutions.
Students are not the only ones affected by affirmative action policies. At the workplace, such procedures also impact the selection process.
Special Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Ozzie Harris, expressed disappointment at a proportionately low percentage of minorities in the faculty and administration of all colleges.
As of Oct. 2000, Dartmouth Arts and Sciences faculty consisted of 12.4 percent minorities and 34.9 percent women. Harris approximated that four women and virtually no minorities were on the faculty in 1970.
"The trend has been that there are more minorities that are here now since the early '70s," Harris said. "Some would say that's too few, some would say that just right, and some would say that's too many."
Although controversy continues over affirmative action's legitimacy, Harris said that the policy has served the interest of institutions nationwide by opening the search for faculty and students to more qualified candidates of all races.
"I think that affirmative action has facilitated institutions like Dartmouth College to know what to do in order to make certain that their hiring processes are fair," Harris said.
Harris said that Dartmouth's administration has a two-pronged approach to fostering searches in which more qualified minorities could be hired. The hiring process is monitored for traces of bias toward certain ethnic or racial groups and searches are broadened to reach minorities who would have otherwise been overlooked.
