Diversity remains in Texas after suit

While the University of Michigan confronts a high-profile lawsuit challenging its affirmative-action policies, officials in Texas are acting to mitigate the impact of 1996's historic case of Hopwood vs. The University of Texas School of Law.

Lawmakers, school administrators and activists have been scrambling since the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling banned the use of race as a factor in admissions. Since Hopwood, universities in Texas have seen minority enrollment drop. Now, the challenge for proponents of diversity is to achieve their goals without violating the Hopwood decision's mandate.

Last year, the Texas State Legislature passed a law guaranteeing all in-state students in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes automatic acceptance to any state-sponsored university.

Peggy Eckster, guidance counselor at the Kleine Forest High School in Houston, said college-bound seniors have welcomed the new state law with open arms.

"They think it's great because you're guaranteed a spot," Eckster said. "The top 10 percent is thrilled about it."

University of Texas at Arlington first-year student Eris Eickeo said the new law is a good bonus to the top-ranked students.

"It's a good incentive for the top 10 percent, for the people who do the best to have more choices," Eickeo said.

But, Leno Gradlia, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said this new law will hurt the composition of the student body, since students with high rank but inferior test scores will be admitted.

"It allows students into the university regardless of their individual academic achievements," Gradlia said.

William Cunningham, chancellor of the University of Texas System, is optimistic that a new commission uniting all public universities in Texas also will find ways to soften Hopwood's impact.

"We're hopeful that the distinguished members of the Commission on a Representative Student Body will bring forward innovative approaches that will help us meet the challenge successfully," Cunningham said in a written statement.

This committee, composed of three representatives from each of the eight Texas school systems, will not meet until late January. None of these members are directly affiliated with the universities, but instead are community leaders chosen to help develop options to maintain diversity in the post-Hopwood environment.

In October, the University of Texas at Austin formed the Initiative for Educational Diversity to focus on the university's diversity plans. The initiative, comprised of five separate task forces, includes both students and faculty.

"We've established a diversity initiative on campus, a grass-roots attempt to diversify the university," said Terry Wilson, associate director for public relations at the University of Texas at Austin. "We're looking at five areas: undergraduate and graduate admissions, retention, outreach, and looking at the issue of race itself."

Immediately following Hopwood, the University of Texas at Austin had to alter its admissions policy, as well as certain programs that excluded white students. Margarita Arellano, assistant dean of students for retention services, said many programs that helped minorities adapt and succeed in college were opened to everyone after the 1996 court decision.

"(Some) minority students came earlier in the summer," Arellano said. "They had to complete certain courses if they wanted to attend the university in the fall. It is very typical to give minority students an edge to adjust to the campus. After Hopwood, all ethnicities were included."

Although laws forbid race as a factor in admissions, the universities have turned to new criteria in reviewing applications.

Instead of banking heavily on standardized test scores, the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin said it will seek "non-quantitative indicators of academic promise" as well as "distinct experiences that are not otherwise well-represented in the student body."

With a decline in minority representation at the school, Wilson said it is necessary to place less weight on SAT scores in order to maintain diversity.

"Fewer blacks and Hispanics attend the university than ever before," Wilson said. "Curriculum and rank will predict how well a student will do, rather than SAT scores.

"The ones with the low SAT scores and higher class ranking stay in the university and graduate at the same rates as those with higher SAT scores and lower class rank," she said.

Arellano said the University of Texas at Austin must not abandon its fight for diversity, and that universities must reflect society.

"One thing that I know as an educator is that education is important for all," Arellano said. "Education will make the difference in the next century. A part of the population does not have access to higher education. When they do not have access, it does not benefit anyone.

"We need to look for solutions because the problem is still there," she said.

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