Reverse Discrimination

Reverse Discrimination As a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Washington, Marco De Funis Jr., 22, had naturally assumed that he would be accepted by the university's law school. He was not, either last year or this year when he reapplied. Aspiring lawyer that he was, De Funis went to court. The main point at issue was that the admission of 30 minority-group students with lower grades and aptitude scores showed discrimination against him in violation of the Constitution's equal protection clause.

De Funis did not really expect to win, but to his surprise--and the university's--Seattle Superior Court Judge Lloyd Shorett has just ordered his admission. The Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation ruling, said Judge Shorett, held that "public education must be equally available to all regardless of race." At the University of Washington, Shorett concluded, whites had been discriminated against because of special standards used for minority admissions.

The university has indeed gone out of its way to recruit and admit blacks, Chicanes and American Indians, and has earned a reputation as a leader in redressing minority imbalance in the student population. Though Judge Shorett specified that his ruling applied only to De Funis, the university is concerned about the impact of the decision and will appeal to the state supreme court. The argument will likely be that traditional tests reflect middle-class white values and so entitle the university to use special means of evaluating minority applicants. Moreover, says Law Dean Richard Roddis: "We are trying to bring people from traditionally excluded groups into the mainstream of legal activities as one way to overcome 200 years of discrimination."

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