Reverse-Discrimination Claim Thrown Out by Federal Judge
ATLANTA — A federal judge lambasted the University of Georgia for using race as a factor in its current admissions policy, but threw out a White applicant’s claim that the school rejected him because of race.
Judge B. Avant Edenfield said the student would not have been admitted to the school regardless of race. However, the judge criticized the university, saying the school “cannot constitutionally justify the affirmative use of race in its admission decisions.
“The record shows, quite simply, that … UGA prefers one applicant over another based solely on race,” Edenfield, of the U.S. District Court in Savannah, wrote in his July 6 ruling.
The suit, filed in 1997 by Craig Green and his Atlanta attorney Lee Parks, said the state university system uses racial quotas to illegally segregate public colleges and universities. Although his client’s claim of discrimination was thrown out, Parks said that he was encouraged by Edenfield’s remarks.
“The ball is now in the university’s court. Are they going to continue this program in the face of this ruling or not?” says Parks, who adds he would consider another suit if the university does not change its policy.
The university’s admission policy uses the same academic standards for all students regardless of race. Borderline applicants, who make up about 25 percent of freshman admissions, get extra points for being minorities, as do applicants whose parents are alumni or who live in rural or poor areas of the state.
Edenfield described the policy as “race counting — where non-White applicants literally are awarded ‘racial bonus points.'”
University officials justified the system as a way to diversify the campus, where Blacks make up 6.2 percent of the student body. And University System Chancellor Stephen Portch says that UGA will continue efforts to have a diverse student body.
“Our state’s future economy depends on the University System of Georgia being accessible to all qualified Georgians, so we will continue to work … to explore all of the options that will enable UGA to have an inclusive student body,” he says.
Edenfield rejected Green’s claims that he was denied admission to the 1997 freshman class because he was White. The judge ruled that Green could not challenge the policy because his academic record was not good enough to gain admittance to the Athens school.
Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Gets $50 Million Gift
INDIANAPOLIS — The Lilly Endowment has offered a $50 million grant to the San Francisco-based Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which provides college scholarships to Hispanic students. The gift is believed to be the largest ever pledged to any Hispanic organization, according to Sara Martinez Tucker, HSF’s president and chief executive.
Tucker says Hispanics have one of the lowest graduation rates among all U.S. ethnic groups, with about 9 percent graduating from four-year colleges. Her fund’s aim is to double that percentage.
The Lilly Endowment — the charitable fund started by the Indianapolis-based drug company Eli Lilly and Co. — will give the scholarship fund $45 million up front. It has offered another $5 million if HSF raises an additional $5 million by the end of 2001. The bulk of the gift, $37.5 million, will be spent on direct aid for students.
This spring, the Hispanic fund gave $3.52 million to 2,600 students. With the endowment’s help, the fund will give $12 million each year to 6,000 students.
Edley Leaves President’s Race Relations Project
BOSTON — Frustrated by delays in President Clinton’s book on race relations, Harvard University Law School Professor Christopher F. Edley Jr., who has been one of the president’s top advisers on race-related issues and was ghostwriting the book, has quit the project.
Edley sent the president a note last month saying he would cooperate if Clinton were to ask him. But, the note said, he was “going ahead with other projects in my life.”
“The basic message is that the ball is in his court,” Edley told The Boston Globe.
The book, tentatively titled One America, had been scheduled for publication in April. White House wrangling over affirmative action and other issues has fueled delays.
“I didn’t want to continue having policy debates with the White House staff that could go on interminably,” says Edley. “I have exhausted my patience with that exercise.”
Clinton himself has alluded to problems with Edley’s 200-page draft of the book.
“Chris gave me his draft, then the staff looked at it and talked about where it was or wasn’t consistent with present policies we are pursuing,” Clinton said in a June 25 news conference.
The president said the Kosovo crisis interfered with the time he could devote to the book, but he pledged to complete it.
“I simply haven’t had the time to give it the effort that it deserves,” Clinton says.
ETS Concerns Put Crimp in
Alabama’s Teacher-Testing Plan
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Educational Testing Service (ETS), concerned about how one of its tests might be used, is holding up a plan that was supposed to allow the state to assess prospective teachers without racial bias.
Alabama has not tested new teachers since 1985, when tests were discontinued because of a lawsuit filed by Black students and Alabama State University. The exams were challenged as being racially unfair and because graduates of historically Black colleges and universities had higher failure rates than graduates of traditionally White colleges.
Under a plan given tentative approval by a federal judge, the Department of Education planned to use the New Jersey-based testing service’s PRAXIS I exam, which is used by more than 20 states. The state board of education would determine the passing score, in consultation with a committee dominated by the plaintiffs from the 1980s case.
“We are sympathetic with the plight of Alabama right now, but we’re also concerned with being able to rationally, sensibly, and calmly discuss the issue of test development,” says Mari Pearlman, an ETS vice president. “We’re not sure under the circumstances of the consent decree that we feel we can do the kind of work we need to do to uphold our own technical standards.”
The proposed process of deciding whether the test is unbiased does not meet ETS’ standards, she says. And, she says, the state’s oversight committee would be too heavily weighted with people picked by the plaintiffs. Additionally, the legal standards the test would have to meet are rooted in employment discrimination law, which Pearlman says is an inappropriate standard.
“For all of these reasons, we are reluctant to engage in licensure testing under the current circumstances in Alabama,” she says.
State Superintendent Ed Richardson says the lack of an agreement with ETS for the multimillion-dollar contract is one reason the department will ask other test-makers to submit proposals. State law also requires it. And Gov. Don Siegelman says he was aware of the company’s concerns and believes they could be worked out. But a lawyer for Black prospective teachers was less optimistic.
“In all of the discussions … I talked about a specific test, and that test was Praxis,” Donald Watkins says, adding that if Praxis is eliminated as an option, “it would certainly put a big question over the entire agreement.”
City Excused from Lawsuit
Brought by Hampton Coaches
LUBBOCK, Texas — A judge removed the city of Lubbock from a $30 million civil rights lawsuit filed by the women’s basketball coach of Hampton University, her husband, and an assistant coach. But he allowed the claims to stand against individual police officers and paramedics.
The suit, filed April 19, alleges racial bias by police in the wrongful arrest of the three last Nov. 16 outside a Wal-Mart store. Hampton was in Lubbock for a basketball game against Texas Tech, but the game was canceled because of the incident (see Black Issues, Dec. 10, 1998) .
U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings rejected allegations the trio made against the city of Lubbock under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. He said that, under the act, the plaintiffs must have received services from the entity they are accusing, and that didn’t happen in this case.
Cummings ruled the city of Lubbock is immune from the claims of slander, libel, defamation, and emotional distress mentioned in the lawsuit. But the judge said individual police officers and paramedics cited in the lawsuit have no such immunity.
He also dismissed two allegations that assistant coach Vanetta Kelso, who was pregnant, received inadequate medical care at University Medical Center, but allowed a third claim to remain in the lawsuit.
Kelso was detained along with head coach Patricia Bibbs and her husband, Ezell Bibbs, after a woman complained that someone had scammed her. The three, who were handcuffed and held for several hours, insisted upon their innocence. No charges were filed after a review of the store’s security tapes showed that none of the three had any contact with the woman.
The lawsuit alleged that police detained them because they are Black. It also contends police violated the constitutional rights of due process, equal protection, and protection from unreasonable and illegal arrests, searches, and seizures.
Kelso claims she was humiliated, embarrassed, and threatened by an emergency worker at the University Medical Center in Lubbock because she vomited. The worker threatened to stuff a towel in her mouth, the lawsuit said.
The suit sought $2.5 million for each plaintiff for past and future loss of wages, medical expenses, pain, and mental anguish — plus punitive damages of $7.5 million for each plaintiff.
Four Norfolk State Coaches
Leave Following Audit
NORFOLK, Va. — Four members of the Norfolk State University Athletics Department, including the head basketball and head track coaches, will not return to the historically Black institution next year because a current audit found irregularities in the department’s travel accounts.
Head basketball coach Melvin Coleman, associate basketball coach Erik Rashad, and assistant track coach Simon Hodnett all resigned their positions. Head track coach Steve Riddick will not have his contract renewed.
The problems were discovered during the university’s regular institutionwide audit that occurs every two years. This audit began in November. University officials were not at liberty to disclose the amount of money involved because the investigation is not concluded.
“To our surprise there were these travel irregularities in our Athletics Department,” Larry Curtis, associate vice provost for student affairs, says. “Being a state university — a state agency — we are taking the appropriate action as recommend by the [commonwealth’s] Attorney General’s office to bring this thing to closure.”
