Students support 'U' admissions

Representatives from seven Law School student organizations united yesterday to express their support for the University's admissions policies.

The panel members announced in a joint statement that they "recognize that affirmative action is a necessary means of combatting prejudice, unequal opportunity and under-representation."

"This lawsuit is an outrage for anybody who stands for equality," said Jodi Masley, a representative of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary and a Law first-year student. "It is a fight we have to resist. Any opportunities that exist for me are there because people like me fought for them. If we hope to make a difference, we're going to have to pick up the torch where our parents left off."

More than 20 students and faculty attended the news conference to hear the joint statement and responses by individual groups. The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Black Law Students Alliance, Latino Law Students Association, Nationa

BRYAN MCLELLAN/Daily Law third-year student Zach Ratzman, a member of the campus chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, speaks about affirmative action on campus yesterday.

l Lawyers Guild, Native American Law Students Association, OutLaw Student Alliance and South Asian Network of Graduate Students at Michigan each presented an individual statement supporting affirmative action.

Matt Carlin, a representative of OutLaws, said the student group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students actively supports affirmative action, and feels it is an "appropriate and necessary means for building a diverse class."

"The elimination of race as a factor in the admissions process means, as in the case of Texas and California, that the Law School will become even less diverse, and that would be detrimental to the Law School," Carlin said.

Carlin said OutLaws has a "unique position in this debate."

"Most of our members are white, but we see things differently," said Carlin, a Law second-year student. "We are also part of a group of people who are oppressed, and we understand what it feels to be discriminated against."

APALSA representative Winnie Kao said members feel the use of the "'model minority' myth, where certain isolated examples of APA achievement are held up to describe the entire APA community, is unrepresentative and problematic."

"There are a lot of misconceptions out there, and one is the notion that APAs don't need affirmative action, which is untrue," Kao said.

Zach Ratzman, who co-chairs the campus chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, said that "the use of standardized test scores in the admissions process."

"Standardized test scores - in our case, the (Law Admissions Standardized Test) - are relevant to one's qualifications only if such scores serve as an accurate proxy for one's ability to succeed in law school and in the eventual practice of law," Ratzman said. "I would submit today, however, that these tests are not an accurate proxy at all."

Ratzman said it is inaccurate to assume that test scores are always "indicative of one's potential to succeed."

"If class/cultural biases, or inequalities in education and opportunity, account for the disparity in test scores, then something must be done to address the systemic bias that continues to disadvantage blacks, Latino/as and other minorities in the United States," Ratzman said. "That something is affirmative action."

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