In spite of recent controversy and attacks on the University's admissions and affirmative action policies, officials say their annual review of admissions procedures will not lead to dramatic changes.
"As we do every year, we are reviewing the system," Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison said, adding that affirmative action policies will be upheld. "We have no intention of abandoning that system. We are simply fine tuning it, as we do every year."
University President Lee Bollinger said the provost's office is currently conducting a review of admissions policies. He said he is unable to project if any changes will be made following the review.
"We are not, at this stage, announcing any changes," Bollinger said. "We certainly have no intention of backing away from pursuing diversity, but we may find better ways of achieving it."
Provost Nancy Cantor said she would not comment on possible changes in admission policies, but said she is simply trying to understand what policies will best serve the University.
"We want to make sure our admission procedures really mirror what we want to achieve in our student body," Cantor said.
Regents Andrea Fischer Newman (R-Ann Arbor) and Laurence Deitch (D-Bloomfield Hills) both said they support a review of admissions procedures.
"I do feel there's a need to review our admission policies," Newman said.
Opponents of the University's current admissions procedures speculated that the review comes in response to the attempt of four state legislators to file suit against the University for the use of "minority preference admissions."
State Rep. Deborah Whyman (R-Canton Township), one of the legislators calling for the suit, said changes Bollinger discussed in an article in The Detroit News yesterday are an attempt to mask the continuation of affirmative action practices.
In the article Bollinger said, "I would like to increase the (admissions) staff to give more personal attention to each candidate rather than relying on formulas. I would like to widen the concept of diversity. A public university ought to have a very large spread of students attending."
"Lee Bollinger is putting a different face on discrimination," Whyman said. "He never talks about ending discrimination. He just talks about putting a different face on it. Instead of discriminating on the basis of a formula, he decides to discriminate on a one-to-one basis."
Associate Provost for Academics and Multicultural Affairs Lester Monts said Whyman misinterpreted Bollinger's remarks.
"I think that's a misrepresentation of what President Bollinger stands for, with regard to diversity at the University and its contribution to academic excellence and its continuance and its continuance to the mission of the University of Michigan as a public institution," Monts said.
Monts said the University supports its admission policies, but they are not a "perfect science."
"Our admission policies are part of an evolving process," Monts said. "I don't think any administrators want to get into a political slugfest with elected officials.We believe that it is important for us to have an admissions policy that will yield a student body that is in line with the values we hold as an institution of higher education."
Harrison said Whyman is jumping on a newspaper headline "in order to further distort the issue."
"These four representatives ... have repeatedly demonstrated that they more interested in rhetoric and propaganda than a thoughtful public discussion of an important public policy issue," Harrison said.
Whyman, however, said Bollinger's vision for the University is inappropriate.
"On the eve of his inauguration, Bollinger is an embarrassment to the institution and this fine state," she said.
-Daily Staff Reporters Janet Adamy and Jeffrey Kosseff contributed to this report.
09-19-97
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