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Victims of affirmative
action at Michigan
Jennifer Gratz applied to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
in the fall of 1994, when she was a high school senior in the Detroit
suburb of Southgate. Despite her combined score of 25 on the ACT (83rd
percentile), a 3.765 GPA and experience as a math tutor, athlete, cheerleader
and Class Congress representative, she was wait-listed and eventually
rejected from UM Ann Arbor, the flagship school of the University of Michigan
system.
After enrolling in UM Dearborn to study math, Gratz sued the University
of Michigan on the grounds that its affirmative action system had discriminated
against her. Gratz graduated in May 1999 and now works as a training specialist
for a software company.
Patrick Hamacher, a Lansing, Michigan native,
applied to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1996. He scored
28 on the ACT (89th percentile) and maintained a 3.373 GPA while training
as a varsity athlete and working several part-time jobs. After he was
waitlisted by UM Ann Arbor, he applied to and was accepted at Michigan
State University, where he earned a B.A. in public administration in 2001.
Barbara Grutter earned a B.S. with high
honors from Michigan State University, where she maintained a 3.81 GPA.
She graduated in 1978 and scored 161 on her LSAT, but she postponed law
school for a career as a health care consultant and manager. In 1986,
she founded a successful health care information firm, and in 1996, at
age 43, she applied to the UM Law School. Grutter was wait-listed and
eventually rejected. She has since gone back to her business and raising
her two children.
 Last
revised: 23-Oct-2001
 
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