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Friday, October 24, 1997

Hopwood lawyer says he wanted more diversity

By PEGGY FIKAC / Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN (AP) -- The court case that ended affirmative action at Texas universities wasn't meant to eliminate diversity in student bodies but to broaden its meaning, the lawyer who organized the lawsuit told a legislative committee Thursday.

"The point is not that blacks and Mexican Americans shouldn't be in the law school. It's just a question of ... who else is going to be there with them?" said Steve Smith, who still represents two plaintiffs in the lawsuit that challenged the University of Texas law school's 1992 admissions policy as discriminatory against whites. The plaintiffs are now seeking damages.

"I encourage diversity and all that, but basically one of my goals was to broaden the diversity definition to include those who I ... knew of who were left out also," Smith told the House Committee on Higher Education.

Smith said part of his reason for bringing the lawsuit was to "jar the admissions process," contending that UT law school "lacks diversity not only along racial lines, but also economic lines."

"Did you go to UT? Then you know what I'm talking about," he said to Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, one of four Mexican-American lawyers on the committee who were at the hearing. Smith attended UT Arlington as an undergraduate before going to UT law school.

The UT System is among institutions that have named a state panel to recommend ways to promote diversity in student bodies in the wake of the admissions lawsuit, known as Hopwood after plaintiff Cheryl Hopwood. Smith represents two other plaintiffs. All have sought damages.

In the case, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law school's admissions policy, and the U.S. Supreme Court last year allowed the ruling to stand.

Attorney General Dan Morales reiterated for the committee his belief that a diverse student body could be achieved without using racial preference.

Subjective criteria not related to grades and test scores "can be given much greater weight than is currently the case," he said.

The legislative committee is looking at how to deal with the ruling, particularly in light of a growing population of minorities in Texas.

Smith said the end of affirmative action doesn't mean minorities won't get a higher education, but that they may attend different universities.

The theory has been presented that with affirmative action, "the people who were going to be admitted to UT were admitted to Ivy League schools. People who were going to be admitted to the University of Texas at Arlington, where I went, would be admitted to UT (Austin) and basically have a hard time competing," Smith said.

"The theory was that basically if you didn't use racial preferences, everyone dropped down" one notch in the level of school attended, he said.

"I had some minority friends who basically just flunked out of UT law school, and I didn't think they did them any favors to let them in when they could have performed well in an average law school ."

Cuellar said, "It's almost like separate but equal ... They don't have to go to the best schools ... as long as there are other schools."

Smith indicated he didn't support a "separate but equal" theory and suggested that for law and medical schools, which he called a state resource, a lottery could be held to pick applicants to fill spaces.