Book blasts Michigan Mandate

While the University's affirmative action policies are being challenged in federal court through a suit filed last week, a University alum is challenging their effectiveness in a recently released book.

Frederick Lynch, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, devoted a whole chapter in his book, "The Diversity Machine," to flaws in the Michigan Mandate, an affirmative action program that was instituted by former University President James Duderstadt in 1988.

"The underlying mission of the Michigan Mandate is that we change the culture of the campus by changing the color of the student body," Lynch said. "The Mandate has not really changed much on the campus."

Through efforts in the areas of financial aid, academic programs and admissions policies, the Mandate aimed to increase diversity in the faculty and student body. The proportion of minority students at the University increased from 13.5 percent in 1987 to 25.4 percent in 1996.

"My own belief is that the Michigan Mandate has clearly made the campus more diverse, the numbers indicate this," Duderstadt said. "It has significantly reduced racial tension, as any comparison of racial incidents and activism before, say in 1986, as afterwards would indicate, and improved the quality of the student body and the institution, again, based on actual data."

Lynch, however, said the Mandate increased tension on campus.

"By emphasizing race and gender, you increase tension," Lynch said. "I found there was an underlying resentment because of financial aid preferences."

For his research, Lynch interviewed more than 80 University administrators, faculty and students in addition to looking at minority statistics.

Lynch said it is difficult to view the University from a macroscopic level.

"One of the problems with doing research at U of M is that it is so big," Lynch said. "The only generalization you can make about the U of M is that you can't generalize."

Susan Rasmussen, the University's associate director of affirmative action, said the Mandate is not the first affirmative action program the University has implemented.

"We've had affirmative action since the early '70s," Rasmussen said. "It's not the Michigan Mandate being attacked, it's the notion of affirmative action for students."

Lynch said an increase in minority enrollment does not necessarily mean an increase in diversity.

"The culture of the University hasn't changed," Lynch said. "The University is still individualistic. It is still entrepreneurial, a favorite word at the University. It is still especially upper middle class, and the students are concerned about being number one.

"It has a bureaucratic flavor," Lynch said. "It's big, and you're on your own if you are a student there. It resembles a corporation."

Because of those traits, altering race and gender enrollment will not change the overall atmosphere, Lynch said.

"The Mandate's equation of race -equals-diversity is bogus," Lynch said.

Economic class and family background also must be examined when attempting to diversify the campus, he said.

"The Mandate ignores a huge, hidden variable," Lynch said. "That variable is class. If you get a bunch of upper-middle class black students, that is not diversity."

Rasmussen said the Mandate's ability to diversify the University is the reason it was attacked.

"The Michigan Mandate has been successful," Rasmussen said. "Whenever there is success, there is a chance for backlash."

Lynch also said that while the overall percentage of minorities has increased, a large portion of that increase is in over-represented categories, such as Asian American students. The amount of Asian American students at the University increased from 5.7 percent in 1987 to 11.3 percent in 1996, while the percentage of black students rose from 5.4 percent in 1987 to 8.9 percent in 1996.

"When they say that we've increased students of color, most people don't ask what groups were increased," Lynch said.

Lynch said that while the University increases in the number of students and faculty members in underrepresented groups, it inadvertently decreases the amount of faculty and students in overrepresented groups.

"It's a zero sum game," Lynch said.

Rasmussen, however, said the Mandate does not set maximum limits.

"There is no such thing as an upward quota," Rasmussen said.

Duderstadt said he does not take Lynch's book seriously.

"I would take books like Lynch's with a grain of salt, since he was after a particular market that likes to believe in the myth of political correctness," the former president said.

Although he was critical of the University's affirmative action program, Lynch said he holds a special place in his heart for the University, his alma mater.

"I do love the U of M," Lynch said. "I'm a friendly critic."

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