Rackham dean addresses history of diversity at 'U'

By James Restivo

Daily Staff Reporter

When Earl Lewis was teaching at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989, he had to decide whether to stay in sunny California or bear the cold for a chance to promote diversity at the University of Michigan.

Lewis, now dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate, said he believed he had the ability to mobilize and recruit others in an effort to create a significant presence of minorities.

"I had to begin a job of bringing a diverse faculty together to engage in a way of transforming this society," Lewis said. "An institution has to have the leadership and resolve to engage in change for the benefit of a broader society."

Lewis spoke to an audience numbering more than 150 yesterday as part of the MLK symposium in an effort to recognize the history of diversity at the University.

Matriculation began in 1817, the first African American enrolled in 1868, the first woman in 1870 and the first Asian in 1872, which Lewis said shows the University has "been anchored in a large history of remarkable change."

Lewis talked about the past 100 years, pointing out the progress the University has made in admissions and diversity, citing that in the 1960s applicants had to send a picture for undergraduate consideration.

He also talked about specific events that have recently shaped the student body, including the 1972 Equal Opportunity Act, removing discrimination in the workplace and the 1978 University of California Regents v. Bakke Supreme Court opinion, allowing race to be considered as a factor in admissions.

"Students have played a tremendous role in the community we now see - they help to shape American social policy," Lewis said.

During the presentation, Lewis opened the floor for a discussion of various issues. He addressed the concerns of some students regarding the diversity and responsiveness of University faculty.

Engineering junior Carmela Barnes said the biggest problems she faces in her classes is the prototypical professors and a high minority drop-out rate.

"They need more minority females," Barnes said. "We need encouragement and mentorship. It might be more helpful to receive this from someone you have something in common with."

Lawsuits challenging the University's use of race as a factor in admissions provided another topic of the presentation.

"The University has distinguished itself as a major public institution. We have the ability to show diversity and a high quality student body can exist," Lewis said. "Diversity and excellence are compatible."

The lawsuit, Grutter v. Lee Bollinger et. al., which goes to trial today, deals with the constitutionality of taking race into consideration at the Law School, which Lewis said is necessary to ensure a diverse community.

"If we are going to look at a whole individual, we can't ignore a part of them as salient as their racial background," Lewis said.

Aeronautics Minority Engineering Society founder Arthur Hutchinson, an Engineering senior, said the most important way to solve diversity problems is to ensure a good balance between students and support networks.

"The environment is influential on a student's success," Hutchinson said. "We have a very diverse student body - we just need a way to bring them all together."