Howard Law Students File Briefs In U. Michigan Case

By Ruth L. Tisdale and David Johns
Black College Wire

Univ. of Michigan At the University of Michigan, students supporting its affirmative action policy are being backed by more than 100 universities and higher education groups.

Four students at Howard University Law School have written a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policy, saying the issue should be race, not diversity.

In April, the Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in two cases involving the University of Michigan. In both, white applicants say the university turned them away to make room for less qualified African American students.

Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert recently honored the four law students -- Danielle Conley, Nadine Jones Francis, Robin Konrad and Hillary Browne, who wrote their brief under the direction of HU Law Professors Patricia Brossard and Gwendolyn Majette. Swygert said the main issue in the case is race.

Howard University President Patrick H. Swygert honors four law students who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the U. of Michigan admissions policy.

"Many times, people use diversity as a catch phrase," Swygert said. "But race trumps diversity. Race brings you further than diversity. Most people would be comfortable working in a diverse setting, but not a race- sensitive climate."

Swygert also said that Howard University is one of the few companies, organizations or schools to emphasize race sensitivity.

"Many other companies and organizations will be focusing on the diversity issue," Swygert said. "We [Howard] felt that it was necessary to focus on the main focus point of this whole case -- race."

Kurt Schmoke, the former Baltimore mayor who is dean of Howard's School of Law, said that writing and researching the brief was an interdisciplinary effort on behalf of Howard's faculty and outside sources.

"One of the main focus points that the University brief touches on is that race-conscious measures are constitutionally admissible to avoid discrimination," Schmoke said. "Another point made in the brief is that the University of Michigan is furthering the goals of the United States in having equality."

The law students agreed that the University of Michigan case stands in direct relation to the historic 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case.

"The Michigan cases are Brown's last chance for survival," said Nadine Jones-Francis, a co-author of the brief.

"Statistics tell us that America's primary and secondary schools are as segregated today as they were in 1954 when Brown first came down. White America has been running from the Brown mandate for the last 50 years."

Francis also said that diversity in schools of higher education is the last stop to schools becoming segregated once again.

The four law students later attended an "Affirmative Action and You" forum on campus.

They argued that the phrase 'affirmative action' has been used to incite the majority population into believing that the the University of Michigan relied solely on race as a determinant in admissions.

The brief supports the assertion that a varied population of students is beneficial to the majority as well as the minority, and it purposely avoids the use or suggestion of affirmative action.

"The case against Michigan focuses on racial diversity and how education is benefited by it," said third-year Law student Conley. "In composing the brief it was important for us to consider our audience, in this case nine Supreme Court judges -- five of whom are extremely conservative."

Majette also discussed less-publicized realities of the Michigan case. "The fact remains that the interpretations of the courts are based upon their own personal experiences," she said. "[The logic of whites] is not ours -- as people of color we experience a different reality that shapes our interpretation [of reality]. Things that make sense to us don't always make sense to them, and the precedent of the legal system is what matters."

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman said Feb. 17 at the annual conference of the American Council on Education that plans were under way for at least 300 organizations to join in more than 60 amicus briefs on the university�s behalf.

She said those briefs would represent more than 100 universities and higher education groups, 63 multinational companies, labor unions, civil rights groups, religious organizations, more than a dozen states, numerous members of Congress, and more than two dozen high-ranking military and civilian defense officials.

Ruth L. Tisdale and David Johns are students at Howard University who write for The Hilltop.