A legal battle in Cincinnati this week may help decide once and for all whether race can be a factor in determining who gets into college.

        The federal court case is the first to take a broad, critical look at the value of diversity on college campuses.

        Although the case began at the University of Michigan, the outcome could change affirmative action policies at hundreds of other major colleges and universities.

        “Nobody is immune from the outcome of the Michigan case,” says Mike Mills, director of admissions at Miami University in Oxford. “This is really weighty stuff.”

        The case is based on a lawsuit filed in 1997 by two white students who were denied admission to Michigan. They say Michigan rejected them in favor of minorities with lower grades and test scores.

        A similar lawsuit was later filed against Michigan's law school.

        The lawsuits, bankrolled by a conservative group in Washington, D.C., are now at the heart of a national debate over what role, if any, affirmative action should play in higher education.

        The next step comes Thursday in Cincinnati when Michigan's lawyers ask the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the school's admissions policy.

        No matter how the 6th Circuit rules, most involved in the case expect an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a decision would set a precedent for schools across the country.

        The stakes are high because the Michigan case asks two of the most vexing questions in American higher education: Does diversity matter and, if so, how can it be legally achieved?

        Attorneys on both sides have tried to answer those questions with arguments that have, in effect, put the concept of diversity on trial.

        The university's lawyers cite research from experts who claim to have scientifically measured the benefits of diversity. Critics say the school is more interested in meeting racial quotas than in true diversity.

        Michigan's admissions system rates applicants on a 150-point scale, with 20 points going to “underrepresented minorities” such as African-Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics.

        Up to 80 points are awarded for grade point average, 12 points for test scores and three points for an essay.

        The school rejects four in 10 applicants, and minorities make up 13 percent of enrollment.

        Most schools, including the University of Cincinnati, do not use a rating system because they are not selective, meaning they accept almost anyone with a high school diploma.

        But hundreds of others, from Miami to Ohio State, do have selective admissions and do use race as a factor in deciding who they admit.

        That's why officials at those schools are watching the Michigan case so closely.

        “This could apply to everyone,” says Liz Barry, deputy general counsel for the University of Michigan. “There's a great deal at stake.”
       

A polarized debate
               The Michigan dispute is an ideal test case because it frames the debate over affirmative action in clear, broad terms.

        Unlike other, more ambiguous systems, Michigan's admissions policy is based on a well-defined rating system.

        Both sides in the case make basic constitutional arguments about the fairness of the system, and both try to quantify the value of diversity.

        No other affirmative action case has covered so much legal ground, and no other has polarized the debate quite like this one.

        Michigan's supporters say the case is nothing less than a fight against the “resegregation” of college campuses. Opponents see it as a crusade against “quotas” and “racial preferences.”

        The case was appealed to the 6th Circuit after two federal judges issued conflicting decisions. One judge said race could be considered in undergraduate admissions, while another judge said race could not be a factor in law school admissions.

        The case began four years ago when Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher sued the university, claiming they were denied admission to the College of Literature, Science and the Arts because they are white.

        Ms. Gratz graduated high school with a 3.8 grade point average and Mr. Hamacher had a 3.3. Both are Michigan residents and both had entrance exam scores above the national average.

        “I don't think (Michigan officials) are being honest when they say they're looking for diversity,” says Curt Levey, a spokesman for the Center for Individual Rights. “It's about fulfilling quotas.”

        The center, which funds the lawsuit, contends Michigan puts too much emphasis on race, and not enough on applicants' economic and academic background.

        “If they are really looking at a broad kind of diversity, we would have no objection to that,” he says. “But (racial) preferences are the lazy man's way to achieve diversity.”

        Michigan officials say they give strong consideration to academics and economic background. But race, they say, also must be a factor.

        They cite testimony and research from experts who say racial diversity produces better, more well-rounded graduates.

        One study found that students who attend diverse schools are more likely to have minorities as friends and co-workers later in life. Another found that those students performed better in class and were more likely to seek post-graduate degrees.

        “We've shown that diversity improves the quality of education,” Ms. Barry says. “It improves the ability to think critically, and it improves skills for citizenship in an increasingly diverse society.”
       

What is proper?
               But the Michigan case is about more than just the value of diversity. It's about whether that value justifies the consideration of race in college admissions.

        A Supreme Court case from 1978 allows colleges to consider race in admissions, as long as the system is “properly devised.”

        What is proper, however, is unclear.

        Federal courts in Texas, Georgia and Michigan have interpreted the law differently, which is another reason the Supreme Court may eventually set a national standard.

        Mr. Levey says any system that rejects one student over another because of race is unacceptable. “Are we going to have a principle in this country where people are judged on the basis of skin color?” he says. “I think that's a very important question for society.”

        Supporters of affirmative action say taking race out of the equation will make colleges less diverse, and therefore less able to provide a complete education.

        “The benefits are tangible,” says Mr. Mills, who estimates that Miami's incoming freshman class is 10 percent minority. “What a limiting experience it would be to go to college with students who are carbon copies of you.”

        That's what some activists say will happen if Michigan loses.

        “We refuse to go back to the days of separate and unequal,” says Shanta Driver, director of the Michigan-based United for Equality and Affirmative Action. “We must stop the resegregation of higher education.”

        She sees the Michigan lawsuit as the latest in a series of attacks on diversity in higher education.

        New laws in California and Florida already have banned racial preferences, and legal challenges threaten to do the same in several other states.
       

Damaging diversity
               Ms. Driver and other activists say the states that banned racial preferences also damaged diversi ty on campus.

        Minority admissions at California's public universities dropped 9 percent in 1998, the year after the state ended racial preferences.

        According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, those numbers have rebounded, but not at all schools. The flagship campus, Berkley, still lags behind 1997 levels.

        Ms. Barry says the same thing could happen at the University of Michigan. “Are great institutions going to go back to almost all-white enrollments?” she asks.

        Some prospective college students are asking the same question.

        “It's already hard to get in,” says Justin Frazier, a 16-year-old African-American at Taft High School in Cincinnati. “I don't want it to be harder.”

        Justin and other students plan to join a rally Thursday at noon on Fountain Square, just before the court hears arguments in the Michigan case. Speakers are expected to include New York's Rev. Al Sharpton and Cincinnati's Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.

        At the courthouse, Michigan's lawyers will get support from dozens of educational groups and Fortune 500 companies, including Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. All have filed court briefs extolling the virtues of diversity on campus.

        Mr. Levey agrees diversity is a worthy goal, but not if it requires racial preferences. Alternatives, he says, include more aggressive recruiting and more consideration of an applicant's income level.

        Those same arguments will likely be made Thursday in Cincinnati.

        The 6th Circuit could rule on the case at any time. If the decision is appealed, the next stop is the U.S. Supreme Court.

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