Minority Student Programs Under Fire

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

(AP) -- Summer programs open only to minority students have been dropped or changed at 15 or more colleges and universities, with two groups opposed to affirmative action claiming credit for the changes.

The schools that have altered summer enrichment programs are among 30 institutions that received letters earlier this year from the Center for Equal Opportunity and the American Civil Rights Institute.

The two organizations argued that the programs discriminate against non-minorities, and warned in their letters that failure to change could result in a formal complaint being filed with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

At least a few schools have acknowledged the influence of the letters, though others did not. Saint Louis University rebuffed the groups' challenge, defending its programs to help minorities as "lawful."

The school also said it will follow the guidelines established by the U.S. Supreme Court when it rules later this term on a challenge to the University of Michigan's admissions policies.

Among the schools contacted by the groups, Princeton University said it will stop offering one of its summer enrichment programs and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Iowa State University are modifying programs to include students from all races.

Iowa State spokesman Brian Meyer said a 10-year-old agricultural research program in which minority students from other colleges are taught by members of the ISU faculty will be held as usual this summer. But in response to the letters, Iowa State will expand the program to include non-minorities in 2004.

"The program will continue, we will widen out the criteria and we will definitely still encourage minority students that we feel need to get some kind of taste of agriculture and life sciences. But we won't be targeting only those groups," Meyer said.

Edward Blum, the director of legal affairs for the California-based American Civil Rights Institute, said he was not surprised that Iowa State and other colleges have changed their policies.

"I think to get us off their backs, these schools said 'We have a lot to lose and very little to gain by continuing something like this,"' he said.

The groups said a decision on whether to file complaints against schools that have yet to address the summer programs will be made after the Supreme Court decides the Michigan case.

Roger Clegg, the general counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, headquartered in Sterling, Virginia, said he believes that even if Michigan wins its case, many of the summer programs could still be deemed discriminatory.

Harry Pachon, the president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, an Hispanic advocacy group located in Claremont, California, argued that the organized efforts to derail the programs are counterproductive.

"What they don't recognize is that that there are basic inequalities in the American education system that the summer enrichment programs are trying to address," Pachon said.