Pols hurl insults at panel discussion

State political figures hurled insults and loudly argued their positions on affirmative action at a panel discussion last night.

The discussion on affirmative action featured state Reps. David Jaye (R-Macomb) and Ted Wallace (D-Detroit), state Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem Twp.) and Tim O'Brien, chair of the Michigan Libertarian Party.

As soon as the debate on affirmative action began, the discussion became heated. Jaye, one of the legislators who encouraged students to come forward as plaintiffs for the lawsuit challenging the University's affirmative action programs, made statements that angered many members in the audience of more than 400.

"Affirmative action hurts minority students by admitting incompetent and unprepared students and puts them in a rigorous curriculum," Jaye said. "I truly believe there is not a lot of racism in America."

EMILY NATHAN/Daily LSA senior Jerica Shields shows emotion during a symposium on affirmative active in Angell Hall yesterday, where state politicians gathered for an argumentative debate on the issue.

Smith and Wallace vehemently disagreed with Jaye's stance.

"The U of M does not admit anyone who is unqualified," Wallace said. "David Jaye knows that. But he wants you to believe that unqualified minorities are being admitted. He is trying to take us back to the days of the Jim Crowe laws.

"Every black person has to deal with racism from the time they are born until the time they die," said Wallace, who is black.

O'Brien said affirmative action programs should not exist on the campus because the University is a public institution. By using race as a factor, he said, the government institutes a policy of racial discrimination.

"We hold to the hope that someday there will be no coercive government," O'Brien said. "It is totally wrong to discriminate."

Following last night's forum, about 50 students, many of them members of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary, marched to the Fleming Administration Building for an informal gathering to demonstrate their commitment to a pro-affirmative action student movement.

LSA first-year student Laura Kennedy said the march was a way for students to mobilize in defense of affirmative action.

"As a young adult, this is one of the first opportunities to preserve what we believe in," Kennedy said.

Wallace and Jaye, who are both University alumni, brought the debate to a personal level by questioning the other's qualifications for being accepted to the University.

"David Jaye likes to say he is the best and brightest," said Wallace, a Law School alumnus. "But when he came to the University, I'm sure there were more qualified blacks who were denied admission."

Jaye fired back later in the panel discussion by challenging Wallace's qualifications.

"When Ted Wallace was a student, he took the place of a more qualified student," Jaye said.

Smith said that in his statements about affirmative action, Jaye makes two false assumptions.

"One of his assumptions is that any student of a minority background on this campus is inherently unqualified to be here," Smith said. "His other assumption is that the University graduates students who are not prepared. David Jaye comes from two basic assumptions. I would suggest they have a very racist background."

O'Brien said that affirmative action's goal of attaining a diverse campus is not a noble one.

"I find it very superficial that we are concerned by how the University looks," O'Brien said.

Audience members also joined in the argument, including BAMN member Jessica Curtin, who challenged Jaye to "just say you are a racist and resegregationist."

"You thought our generation wasn't capable of doing what generations before us were able to do," Curtin said. "Well, you were wrong. We will fight this. That was the worst mistake you ever made in your life."

Jaye responded by calling Curtin and every defender of affirmative action "racist" and said the lawsuit against the University will cause the end of minority preferences.

"We're going to haul their racist butts to jail," Jaye said.

State Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor), who sat in the audience, said the two-hour panel discussion was well organized and allowed people from all sides of the issue to speak their minds.

"It's a topic for which people have strong feelings," Brater said. "The Women's Issues Commission did an excellent job moderating it. It's important to have an open discussion on the issue."

LSA first-year student Sarah Ratkovich said she opposes affirmative action because alternative means of achieving diversity already exist.

"Diversity is extremely important, but creating diversity at the university level can be better achieved through improving K-12 education in the inner cities," Ratkovich said.

Last night's symposium was the third in a four-day series of educational forums on affirmative action. The panel discussion was organized by the Michigan Student Assembly's Women's Issues Commission and Minority Affairs Commission.

- Daily Staff Reporter Katie Plona contributed to this report.

11-20-97