Candidates divided on afrmative action issue

Lawsuits against 'U' go to trial next fall

Two years after lawsuits attacking the University's use of race as a factor in admissions practices were filed and less than one year before they are expected to go to trial, candidates running for representative seats on the Michigan Student Assembly are trying to define their role in the process.

"As a rep., it's more MSA's job to be informing the University about both sides of the issue," said Music senior Shaila Guthikonda, a Blue Party candidate and MSA representative.

Guthikonda said since her student constituency is equally divided on the issue, she does not vote on resolutions supporting or opposing affirmative action.

"I cannot make a decision to say that the Music School is for or against affirmative action," she said.

Defend Affirmative Action Party Chair and MSA Rackham Rep. Jessica Curtin said in a written statement that in regards to affirmative action, the assembly should take action and educate the student body.

"MSA should increase its commitment to the central fight of our generation. It is MSA's job to educate students about affirmative action and provide more avenues for students to express their support and commitment. We are wholeheartedly in favor of sponsoring more debates and teach-ins on affirmative action," Curtin said.

Friends Rebelling Against Tyranny Party candidate Jason Davis-Martin, an LSA senior, said he supports affirmative action because it is "the antithesis of inertia."

"Affirmative action is action - affirmatively. And I'm all for action. If it weren't for action, we'd all end up in the place we are now, except we couldn't do any ending up, or any ending or starting anything for that matter, because we'd have no action," Davis-Martin said.

Like many of the students campaigning, BP Candidate Amit Pandya said the assembly's primary responsibility in the affirmative action debate is to educate, but he feels some of the forums on campus have had a negative impact on students.

"I know a lot of people were intimidated by the Day of Action. They didn't want to be attacked for having an opposite view," said Pandya, an LSA junior. "To properly deal with the issue, we should sponsor educational events on neutral grounds."

Pandya also suggested working with the administration and examining how the admissions process works.

"The best way to get things done is through the administration," he said.

Nursing Rep. Jennifer Seamon, a senior, said education and representation should go together.

"My primary function is to represent my constituents ... I always ask around (for opinions), but it's not always easy because of the restraints of clinical classes," she said, adding that sometimes she has to inform her constituents about the issues so she can get feedback.

Independent candidate Ryan Gregg expressed a similar approach to the assembly's role in the contentious issue.

"As a hopeful representative to the College of Engineering, the views that I express to MSA should be those of the student body, not my own," the Engineering first-year student said in a written statement.

"This is the purest form of a representative government. It would be a crime for less than 1 percent of the student body - MSA - to dictate to the student body as a whole what policy should be on any given issue, based purely on their personal opinions," Gregg said.

MSA Treasurer Suzanne Owen said that as a Rackham representative, she feels the best course of action is to evaluate each resolution based on its intent and as it comes to the assembly.

"Few resolutions that come before MSA can be evaluated on face value; I represent my constituents by voting conscientiously," she said.

Josh Trapani, the assembly's student general counsel, who also is an independent candidate for Rackham, said he would prefer that the MSA stay out of the affirmative action debate.

"I can see MSA serving an educational role to some degree, but generally, I believe that this is an issue for the courts," Trapani said.

"When MSA debates resolution after resolution with an affirmative action theme, the arguments get old and tired, the beliefs and sides become entrenched and nothing productive gets accomplished," he said.

11-18-99