Whites Denied Admission to University
Of Michigan Seek Damages for 30,000 Others
ANN ARBOR, Mich.
Lawyers for two White students whose lawsuit overturned the affirmative action admissions program then in use at the University of Michigan have asked a federal judge to award damages to 30,000 other White and Asian applicants.
The motion was filed earlier this month with U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan in Detroit. It seeks $1 for the nonminority students whose applications were rejected between 1995 and 2003 and asks the university to refund their application fees.
The lawyers also are asking the school to reimburse some of those students who may have attended a more expensive school after being rejected by Michigan and to compensate them for emotional distress, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of race as a factor in admissions but threw out the school’s undergraduate admissions system that awarded extra points to Black, Hispanic and American Indian applicants.
The university replaced the point system with a system that considers race but also requires essays and data about students’ economic status in addition to academic credentials.
Lawyers from the Center for Individual Rights, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm representing Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher also are asking Duggan to certify the rejected students as a class.
University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said the request for damages is unwarranted because the high court upheld the use of race in a similar case against its law school.
— Associated Press
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