Admission suits delayed

By Jaimie Winkler

Detroit judges have pushed back the trial dates for both lawsuits challenging the University's use of race in admissions at the request of legal counsels on both sides.

The University's attorneys and the plaintiffs' legal team asked for additional time to complete the pre-trial discovery phase for both lawsuits, citing that the discovery of large amounts of information has warranted the push-backs.

Originally, the trials were scheduled to take place mid-summer. The lawsuit against the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, brought on by two white applicants Oct. 14, 1997, has been rescheduled for September or October. The Law School suit, filed Dec. 3, 1997, on behalf of one white applicant, is scheduled for late August.

"As the case nears the end of discovery--the period for gathering all the facts and opinions that either side will use to prove its case--it is not unusual to have a status conference with the judge to see if the original schedule still makes sense," University spokesperson Julie Peterson said, adding that the discovery process has taken longer than the judges expected.

"It's a minor scheduling issue," said Terry Pell, the lead attorney for the Center for Individual Rights, the Washington, DC-based law firm that filed the suits on the plaintiffs' behalf. Judges give adequate time "to permit the parties time to develop the issues," he said. "The court is not inclined to rush."

Peterson said the LSA case, although filed first, is going to trial later because "different judges run their trial calendars differently." (From the 2/22/99 Michigan Daily.)