Since the University was first sued for its admissions policies in the fall of 1997, affirmative action has been the focus of intense debates on campus and nationwide. Both affirmative action proponents and opponents have claimed to represent the collective opinion of the student body as a whole, but Friday's release of The Michigan Daily's student survey marked the first comprehensive scientific poll of University students' attitudes towards the University's admissions policies.
The survey, which was conducted in conjunction with the Department of Communication Studies and the Institute for Social Research, took a representative sample of 87 percent of the student body. Graduate and undergraduate students participated in the poll. Almost 51 percent of respondents said they object to the use of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions, while about 41 percent supported its use. The remainder of the participants was either unsure or refused to answer.
In addition to revealing student opinions on affirmative action, the survey also exposed widespread ignorance in regard to the admissions process. More than 48 percent of respondents thought the University used racial quotas to determine whether candidates are accepted or rejected. Quotas have been illegal since they were banned by the Supreme Court in the 1978 University of California Regents vs. Bakke decision.
The ignorance of nearly half of the survey respondents can, in part, be attributed to the amount of rhetoric on both sides of the affirmative action debate thus far. While a series of panel discussions has already been sponsored by various campus groups since the lawsuit against the University was first filed, many of these have been criticized for being slanted in favor of a particular stance. Whether such allegations are true is irrelevant. If students suspect an event was biased or manipulative, it is likely they will distrust the information and arguments presented and maintain their current opinions.
Perpetuating falsities and half-truths is detrimental to the causes of both affirmative action proponents and foes. The validity of a position can be proven only with arguments firmly grounded in fact. Activists must make a more satisfactory effort to raise the quality of debate on issues surrounding race-based admissions policies.
As an initial and cursory examination of student's opinions on race-based admissions policies, the recent survey should be regarded as the beginning rather than the end of the argument. With the amount of misinformation that is obviously circulating campus, it would be grossly premature for groups or individuals that advocate ending affirmative action to claim final victory. Only when an informed student body has heard several qualified individuals argue for and against affirmative action will a poll be able to draw an accurate portrait of students' ideological alignment. The issue of affirmative action at the University is far from settled. This survey should be used as a starting point for dialogue on this controversial issue.
04-19-99
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