Labor joins Michigan affirmative action fight

By Chris McKie

This article was reprinted from the March 7, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

DETROIT - As the battle for maintaining affirmative action at the University of Michigan heats up, the labor movement in Michigan has swung into action.

The Metro Detroit AFL-CIO, at its annual civil rights conference in February, distributed for discussion a resolution in support of the university's policies.

In part, the resolution quoted the 1997 National AFL-CIO Convention: "Affirmative Action has moved our society measurably closer to the democratic goal of equal opportunity. The gap remaining is too wide to justify relaxing our efforts and abandoning methods of proven effectiveness."

The resolution from the Detroit conference declared "our full support to the students, faculty and administration who are fighting to preserve Affirmative Action admissions policies ..."

Within two weeks of the conference, the Metro Detroit AFL- CIO passed the same resolution and its president, Ed Scribner, offered to file legal briefs in support of the university. United Auto Workers Local 157 also voted to support the resolution.

The university's policies have been challenged in court by the right-wing Washington-based Center for Individual Rights.

The center filed a lawsuit on behalf of a white woman who was denied admission to the law school. Both cases are expected to go all the way to the Supreme Court and will last several years.

The Center for Individual Rights was the principal force behind the challenge to the University of Texas' affirmative action policies that led to the Supreme Court rejecting those practices.

The center is supported by contributions from reactionary forces opposed to affirmative action and from various right-wing think tanks and foundations. They also receive free legal work from a number of conservative law firms.

There has also been increased activity on the campus in support of the policies in recent weeks. On Feb. 25 in Ann Arbor, students and supporters answered the Rev. Jesse Jackson's call for a National Day to Defend Affirmative Action by holding a march and teach-in on campus.

On Jan. 21, 250 students and faculty marched in defense of the university's affirmative action admissions policies. That rally was sponsored by the newly formed Academics for Affirmative Action and Social Justice and featured protesters who carried signs saying, "Say No to Jim Crow" and "Michigan will not be the next California or Texas."

An article in the Ann Arbor News reported that a coalition of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and others were contacting African American high school students to participate in presenting evidence in support of the university's admissions practice.

This could be a step toward getting more high school students involved and broadening the movement in support of the university's policies.