Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG LENGTH: Medium
After an emotional debate Tuesday, the James Madison University Student Senate voted 39-0 to defeat a bill calling for the university to establish a colorblind admissions policy.
But 24 senators abstained from voting and said they would try again this the semester to get the student government to oppose affirmative action. The university is not bound by student opinion bills.
JMU admissions director Roxie Shabazz said she was dismayed by the debate because of the misunderstandings that surfaced and said it mirrored the nation's attempt to come to grips with racial divisions.
``I think this is bigger that an admissions policy, and that's what's happening here tonight,'' she said.
Black students repeatedly told the Student Senate they were offended by the move to eliminate the role of race in admissions. But several Hispanic students said they were offended by the perception that they were admitted because of the color of their skin and not because of their scholastic achievements.
Channa Brooks, one of more than 200 students at the three-hour hearing, broke down in tears as she spoke in opposition to the bill. Brooks, a black senior, said her great-great-great-grandmother was a slave on Patrick Henry's plantation and was raped by a white overseer.
``Saying you're going to have a colorblind policy denies my heritage and denies my culture,'' she said. ``You have to look at things on a broader scope.''
Kalias Muhammad, a black senior, said getting some preferential treatment in regard to race and sex helps level the playing field in the admissions process.
Ronald Rose, a white senior and a student senator, said: ``I know we don't like to admit it, but we live in a racist country. Why is that? Because oppression and slavery were legal for so long.''
Rose pointed out that it was only a generation ago that blacks in Virginia were denied access to schools, jobs and public accommodations.
Some white student senators argued that having a colorblind admissions policy would improve race relations.
``I don't want anybody to have any ground to stand on to say that any of you got here because of your color,'' said Kristen Brannen, a white senator.
Students seeking an end to affirmative action contend some white students can't get into the school because their places are taken by less qualified minority students.
Students quizzed JMU administrators about admissions policies for 30 minutes before the debate.
Shabazz said race, like sex, income and residency, is one of the factors considered in applications but is not the deciding factor. ``There are no quotas.''
James Madison senior Scott Pinsker helped collect the 200 signatures required to bring the debate before the student senate.
Pinsker said next to abortion, the use of racial quotas is the most controversial subject on campus. Pinsker, who is white, said he collected the signatures after his sister, a high school senior in Richmond, began applying to James Madison and other colleges.
by CNB