The University has until Jan. 19 to respond to a motion, filed last
month, that seeks damages for individuals who say they were denied
admission because of the point-based, race conscious policy used in LSA
admissions from 1995 to 2003. Lead counsel Kirk Kolbo, an attorney for
the Center for Individual Rights, is asking a U.S. District Court in
Detroit to award a class of rejected applicants refunds of their $40
application fees and nominal damages of $1 each. Any individual who
applied from 1995 to 2003, and is not a member of the racial groups --
blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans -- that the University awarded
extra points to under the old application system, may be entitled to
compensation. In its last lawsuit against the University, CIR
successfully represented two white students in a case that led to the
U.S. Supreme Court striking down the LSA point-based admissions system
in 2003. LSA has since adopted a new admissions policy that takes
racial background into account, but does not use points and relies more
heavily on essays. The firm is also seeking compensation for a subclass
of white and Asian-American applicants who they say were forced to
attend more expensive private or out-of-state colleges as a result of
being rejected by the University. [more]
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