Bush Opposes Racial 'Quota' at College

by Ron Fournier   AP

WASHINGTON (Jan. 15) - President Bush, stepping into the most politically charged affirmative action case in a generation, asserted Wednesday that a program of racial preferences for minority applicants at the University of Michigan was ''divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution.''

Democrats and civil rights leaders swiftly attacked Bush's position in a Supreme Court case that could overturn a 1978 affirmative action ruling and jeopardize 25 years of race-based programs.

''The Bush administration continues a disturbing pattern of using the rhetoric of diversity as a substitute for real progress on a civil right agenda,'' said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Sensitive to such criticism, the White House said a brief being filed Thursday on Bush's behalf is narrowly tailored to oppose the Michigan program and does not address a critical question: whether race can play a role at all in selecting a student body. Bush chose to let the Supreme Court settle an issue that could reshape affirmative action programs nationwide.

The court hears the case in March.

Some conservatives, including senior members of Bush's own Justice Department, had urged Bush to take a tougher stand against ever using race. In an unusual foray into domestic policy, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice participated in the discussions and eventually sided with Bush's split-the-difference approach.

Rice, who is black, opposed quotas as provost of Stanford University.

''I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education,'' Bush said in the Roosevelt Room to announce that his administration would file a brief. ''But the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed.''

The Michigan program ''amounts to a quota system that unfairly rewards or penalizes prospective students solely on their race,'' Bush said.

He said the undergraduate admissions program awards black, Hispanic and native American students 20 points, one-fifth of the total normally needed for admission. At the law school, some minority students are admitted to meet percentage targets while others with higher grades are passed over, Bush said.

''Quota systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution,'' Bush said.

The last Supreme Court case that addressed affirmative action in college admissions banned the outright use of racial quotas but still allowed university admissions officers to use race as a factor. The case, the 1978 Bakke ruling, involved a white applicant rejected from a public medical school in California.

Bush said that ''racial prejudice is a reality in our country'' and Americans should not be satisfied with the current numbers of minorities on college campus. But in trying to fix the problem, Bush said, ''we must not use means that create another wrong.''

As an option to quotas and preferences, Bush pointed to admissions programs in other states - including his home state of Texas - that promote diversity without giving students an edge based solely on their race.

In Texas, as governor, Bush backed and signed state legislation guaranteeing students in the top 10 percent of their graduating class admission to the state's public colleges and universities. Supporters say that had the effect of continuing a stream of minority students because some public high schools are nearly all black or Hispanic.

State figures show Texas colleges have enrolled more minorities under Bush's program, but not at a pace to keep up with national trends, state goals or the booming population growth.

Bush has called the program ''race neutral'' because no quotas or racial preferences were involved. But senior White House officials, seeking to cast Bush's approach as moderate, said race was at least an indirect factor in the Texas program because diversity was the primary goal of the program.

''Our government must work to make college more affordable for students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and because we're committed to racial justice, we must make sure that America's public schools offer a quality education to every child from every background,'' Bush said.

The volatile issue forced the president to balance the desires of his conservative backers, who staunchly oppose affirmative action, against the potential reaction from the broader electorate if he is viewed as being racially insensitive.

Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School who intends to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, said he would file a brief in support of the university's program.

''I believe affirmative action is an essential tool in expanding educational opportunities to minorities,'' he said.

Noting that Bush announced his decision on the birthday of civil rights hero Martin Luther King, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said, ''He is intentionally flaming racial fears for wedge politics.''

Bush got into Yale University in part because the school gives credit to the sons of alumni, Jackson said, comparing that advantage to the University of Michigan point system denounced by Bush.

Bush's own White House has looked to race as a factor in hiring. Clay Johnson, the president's personal director, told the Washington Post in March 2001 that racial and ethnic diversity are a consideration in making White House appointments.

Complicating the president's decision was the fallout from former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's remarks that seemed to hold nostalgia for the days when segregation was accepted in parts of the nation. Bush condemned the comments last month, and the Republican Party has been trying to attract more minority voters.

In a sign of the White House's sensitivity to the issue, press secretary Ari Fleischer spoke of Bush's support of diversity while also discussing the president's plans to commemorate King's birthday, increase aid to Africa and funnel more money to black colleges.

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