by Al Greenwood
Senior Staff Writer
The University of Houston can no longer consider race in awarding what was once a minority scholarship.
Although the UH Scholarship Committee will still offer the Academic Excellence Award, the university had to remove race and ethnicity as criteria to comply with Texas Attorney General Dan Morales' opinion regarding the Hopwood vs. Texas case.
In his Feb. 5 opinion, Morales restricted Texas colleges and universities from using race as a determining factor for scholarships, financial aid and admissions.
Four white students filed the case, alleging the University of Texas School of Law would not admit them because of affirmative-action policies. In March 1996, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the students, stating UT's law school had discriminatory admissions practices.
Every year, the Academic Excellence Award provided a four-year scholarship to approximately 500 Hispanic, African-American and Native American students, said Ed Apodaca, associate vice president for enrollment management. The students would receive at least $1,000 each year, he said.
UH has offered the scholarship since 1986, said Robert Sheridan, director of scholarships and financial aid. In that first year, 631 recipients got an average $1,900 each.
UH established the award to increase ethnic diversity on campus, Sheridan said. He explained that the award also responded to a lawsuit the state lost to the League of Latin American Citizens, which claimed Texas universities were segregated.
Now, the once-anti-discriminatory scholarship is discriminatory, according to Hopwood.
However, the Academic Excellence Award is grandfathered, so students who have already received awards will not have them rescinded, Apodaca said.
Texas A&M President Ray Bowen said in a press release, "What we're concerned with now is that the minority students we admit will not show up once they learn there is no financial aid for them. ... There's no doubt that schools in neighboring states want these students as badly as we do. It will be hard for these students to resist the financial aid those schools can offer, aid we are barred from providing in Texas."
The UH Law Center also saw minority applications plummet after Hopwood. According to voluntary cards Law Center applicants filled out, African-American applications fell to 191 from 281, a 32 percent decline. White applications also decreased 34 percent, while "no-race" applications increased 279 percent.
"The decrease in applications is a national trend," said Laura Rothstein, a law professor. "Nationwide, it's 12 percent."
The profession's negative image and the strong job market for business and medicine are drawing students away from law school, she said.
However, UH law Professor Michael Olivas said the minority decrease does not reflect the nationwide trend.
"What we have been losing is white males," Olivas said. Minorities have increased in U.S. law schools.
Olivas stressed that several variables influence law school applications. However, he added, "I think that it's clear that the schools have overreacted and have been tighter than they're required by Hopwood."
For example, many universities removed ethnicity indicators from their applications, Olivas said. "These schools bailed out before they had to."
Olivas added that circumventing race in future scholarships will not improve ethnic diversity after Hopwood.
"A substitute for race will never substitute for race," he said. "If I looked around in Texas, I'd be fearful too."