Coalition to devote funds, manpower

Several national organizations that have long been at the forefront of issues surrounding racial justice and civil liberties said they will devote as much money and manpower as is necessary to fight to retain the use of race as a factor in the University's admissions processes.

The three groups - the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund - are leading a coalition that filed a motion this past Thursday to intervene in the lawsuit filed against the University that challenges its use of race as a factor in the admissions processes of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

National members of the coalition, Citizens for Affirmative Action's Preservation, said they cannot predict how much their involvement in the case would cost. But money is not their primary concern, members said, even though they will be responsible for all legal expenses accrued during the potentially lengthy lawsuit.

"It's very difficult to say how much litigation will cost," said Deborah Archer, a staff attorney with the national legal department of the ACLU. "We're more concerned about educational opportunities for African American and Latino students than the financial costs of protecting their rights."

Theodore Shaw, associate director-counsel of the NAACP LDF, said funding for the national organizations, all of which are non-profit, comes mostly from outside sources.

"They are funded through individual contributions, through foundations and, to some degree, fundraising," Shaw said.

CAAP members said the unification of the three organizations strengthens the coalition's cause, which is to maintain the University's admissions practices in order to make higher education accessible to minority students.

"It makes sense to pool our resources, and I just don't mean financially, but the brain power," said Patricia Mendoza, counsel for MALDEF's midwest region.

ACLU senior staff counsel Chris Hansen said it is not uncommon for these three groups to work together, but it is unique that the organizations are appointing such experienced members to head the project.

The lawsuit, which was filed by the Center for Individual Rights in October on the behalf of two white applicants who claim LSA's admissions procedures discriminated against them, "is a bit unusual in the degree to which all the national organizations have put in senior experienced staff," Hansen said.

Given the possible national prominence of the lawsuit and the importance of affirmative action in achieving racial justice, Hansen said it is not surprising that these three groups are making the lawsuit a high priority.

CAAP's national members said their interest and involvement in the lawsuit are aligned with their respective missions.

Shaw said LDF has been an advocate for equality even before litigating in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954. Brown is recognized for reversing the earlier "separate but equal" practice affirmed in Plessy v. Ferguson, thus setting a precedent in education.

LDF was founded in 1940 by former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the high court's first black justice. Shaw said LDF has been involved in the majority of major civil rights cases in history, including Brown.

Just like the NAACP LDF, the ACLU has been a pioneer of civil rights advocacy, Hansen said. Founded in 1920, the ACLU was the first firm of its kind.

Hansen said that although the ACLU may be best known for its role as a First Amendment advocate, the organization's scope is much broader.

"That has been the most visible image of the ACLU, but the ACLU has, throughout its history, been committed to racial justice," Hansen said.

"Whenever there's race discrimination issues rising, we are often involved in those cases," he said.

MALDEF, the newest of the three national groups, was founded in 1968 in response to discrimination against latino/as in the United States.

"We're a national civil rights organization," Mendoza said. "We are committed to advocating on behalf of latinos living in the United States."

For various reasons, representatives of the national organizations said they chose to collectively focus on the lawsuit filed against the University.

"The University of Michigan is only the latest in a string of attacks against higher education," Archer said, referring to previous measures, including Proposition 209 in California and Hopwood v. the state of Texas, both of which banned the use of race as a factor in admissions practices of public universities in the two states respectively.

"This case takes it one more step," Mendoza said. "Now, we're talking about access to undergraduate work, not just graduate."

Shaw said the coalition's actions are currently at a standstill because the group must wait to hear if they will become defendants in the case.

"All we can do is put together the best and most solid legal evidence that we can," Shaw said.

02-11-98