UNM LAW STUDENT GROUP ADVOCATES FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT RULING CELEBRATED

June 24, 2003

UNM LAW STUDENT GROUP ADVOCATES FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT RULING CELEBRATED

Members of the University of New Mexico Admissions Policy Project (APP), a student organization at the School of Law, celebrate yesterday's United States Supreme Court affirmative action ruling in favor of a position for which they advocated.

The high court supported diversity in the classroom as a compelling state interest, upholding the University of Michigan's Law School in its admissions process while striking down that university's undergraduate admissions process in the cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger.

APP members organized a school forum, community outreach projects and a New Mexico legislative education project to inform the public about the legal and political debate surrounding the Michigan cases.

Students in the organization visited Washington, D.C., on April 1, 2003, to "March in Favor of Affirmative Action" the day the high court heard oral arguments in the cases.

The most important student contribution was preparing and submitting a brief on behalf of the New Mexico Hispanic, Native American, and Black bar associations on the state's interest in supporting affirmative action. The students not only advocated for diversity in the classroom, but were also proponents for a state's interest in meeting the unmet needs of its people.

For more information about continuing projects involving affirmative action, contact Elena Moreno, UNM Law School, 1117 Stanford NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131 1431, at 505-577-3959 or via email at morenoel@law.unm.edu.

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