Students March at US Supreme Court
By Lee Ann Wang
Contributing Writer

Forty-four students from all five undergraduate Claremont Colleges joined 50,000 others on April 1 to march on the Supreme Court in favor of affirmative action.

Angie DeWitt '05 helped organize the Claremont students who attended the march with a recent Pomona graduate, Janelle Orsi '02. DeWitt raised funds, and held forums and workshops on affirmative action.

The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action & Integration, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), which organized the march, was founded in July 1995 at Berkeley in response to the challenges to affirmative action within the University of California system. BAMN began mobilizing at high schools, churches, community organizations and, colleges to educate the public on the Supreme Court case.

Some demonstrators saw a connection between their activism for affirmative action and the ongoing antiwar movement.

"I was mainly inspired to participate in this march after discovering how important an issue affirmative action is to our society and all the ways in which it is connected to the peace movement. I also think it's important that Asian Americans participate in this new Civil Rights movement," said Scripps student Diana Yin.

The Claremont contingent marched behind a yellow banner to voice their solidarity with students from universities around the nations. Wearing buttons to match their banner exclaiming, "Send Us to School Not War" and "We All Benefit From Affirmative Action," Claremont students walked from the Supreme Court to the Lincoln Memorial.

Others at the march felt that their demonstration would go beyond simply expressing support for affirmative action and would ignite future activism.

"As a black woman striving for excellence it was empowering and enriching to see so many black people come together to support the cause. Although the fight is far from over it was a wonderful experience to be a catalyst for the New Civil Rights Movement," said Pitzer student Thea Buford-Levels (PT).

Speeches and discussions drew connections between the Michigan case and the current war in Iraq. Repeating phrases like "No Justice, No Peace," protesters struck many of the same notes as the anti-war movement. The hoped to see affirmative action policies that strive towards justice not only in academic institutions, but also in housing conditions, employment opportunities, and contracting and government subsidy programs.

Opening arguments for the Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger began at 9 a.m. The Bollinger case considers the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policies for its undergraduate college and law school. The Center for Individual Rights (CIR), a conservative group provided the financial backing to sue the University of Michigan. In 1997, Barbara Grutter responded an ad placed by the group and filed a complaint against Michigan. With the work of CIR, she is now the plaintiff in the law school case. However, she has not yet testified in court. Affirmative action at educational institutions is not limited to admissions policies. It extents to programs which support minority groups on campus. Because the case is being considered by the high court, its ruling will apply to any institution that receives federal funding.