New lawsuit demands 'U' refund application fees

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]