Group looks at legality of race-based awards

BY SETH PEAVEYSTAFF WRITERApril 04, 2005
The College Board hopes to give universities more guidance in evaluating the constitutionality of their race-oriented financial aid programs.
In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled against the University of Michigan’s point-based affirmative action policy for undergraduate admissions but in favor of the university’s affirmative action policy for law school admissions.
But neither ruling addressed the subject of race as it relates to financial aid.
The College Board will provide analysis of how these court rulings apply to the area of financial aid and will make recommendations this month that colleges can use to ensure the constitutionality of their scholarship programs.
“I know a lot of our colleges were looking at their (financial aid) programs to make sure that they complied, but there weren’t a lot that had a correlation with the Michigan case,” said Cheryl Fields, director of public affairs of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
“There were some scholarships, mainly at private institutions, that were investigated and changed,” Fields said. But most public colleges have not been affected.
In the UNC system, there are no solely race-based financial aid scholarships, but diversity can be considered, said Rose Mary Stelma, director of student financial aid at East Carolina University.
Diversity includes factors such as race, ethnicity, religion, geography and disability.
Leslie Winner, UNC-system vice president for legal affairs, said the Michigan ruling has had relatively little impact in North Carolina.
“There has never been a court case against the UNC system dealing with financial aid policy,” she said.

Complete Story: http://www.dailytarheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/04/4251307cd83c4