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Thursday, August 28, 1997

University 'distressed' at sharp drop in minority admissions

By MICHAEL HOLMES / Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN (AP) -- Minority enrollment at the University of Texas law school dropped dramatically this fall, and the dean said school officials are "greatly distressed."

Only four blacks and 26 Mexican Americans were expected to be among the 468 new law school students who began classes Wednesday, the university reported.

That's down from 31 blacks and 42 Mexican-Americans who were enrolled last year.

"The University of Texas School of Law is greatly distressed by the sharp reduction in the number of Mexican-American and, most dramatically, of African-American students enrolled in the 1997 entering class," said law school dean M. Michael Sharlot.

School officials blamed the drop on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that UT could no longer use race as a factor in admissions and scholarships. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed that decision to stand last year.

The case -- often referred to as "Hopwood" -- started in 1992, when four white students sued the Texas law school after not being admitted. Cheryl Hopwood and three others contended the school's affirmative action policy discriminated against them by admitting minorities with lower test scores.

Final enrollment figures won't be known until Sept. 12. But UT said Wednesday that the 1997 law school class of 468 also should include 391 whites, 39 Asian Americans, and eight other minorities ' such as American Indians, Puerto Ricans and Cubans.

Both applications and admissions for black and Mexican-American students also plunged this year.

The UT law school received applications from 225 blacks (down from 361 last year) and 306 Mexican Americans (down from 354). Applications from white students dropped from 2,693 to 2,515, and total applications fell from 3,910 to 3,487.

Of the 1,092 students granted admission, 11 were black (down from 65 last year) and 40 were Mexican American (down from 70). Admission of white students rose from 841 last year to 907, while overall admissions were down slightly from 1,105 to 1,092.

Sharlot said that despite the university's forceful defense of affirmative action, the federal appeals court decision has prohibited any consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions.

That hurts UT's competitiveness, he said, because Texas must work under "very different and disadvantageous rules" than other law schools in seeking top students.

"It is particularly sad that UT has been thus restricted," Sharlot said, because the Texas law school has produced more black and Mexican-American lawyers during the past 10 years than any other school in the country.

"For two decades, this school has been enormously successful in recruiting, enrolling and graduating students from these two groups, which have been and continue to be grossly under-represented in the legal profession," he said.

"Our 1,300 Mexican-American and 650 African-American alumni have gone on to become leaders of the bar, bench and society," he said, noting that their ranks include U.S. Energy Secretary Federico Pena and Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk.

"We continue to explore ways, within the strictures of 'Hopwood,' to increase the number of competitive minority applicants and the number of those admitted who will choose to attend UT," the dean pledged.