Hoopster’s Hair-do Jells New Admissions Controversy at Michigan
ANN ARBOR (Disassociated Press) March 9, 2007 – The University of Michigan’s Department of Academic Admissions is once again in the public spotlight, following the inauguration of a new admission’s “bonus” the department implemented earlier this week.
The controversy was sparked last Saturday when Brent Petway, a forward on the University of Michigan basketball team, showed up for the team’s regular season finale against arch-rival Ohio State sporting a coif which featured the legendary winged design which adorns the school’s football team’s famous helmet shaved into his hair. Despite Petway’s hair cut, the Maize and Blue nevertheless lost to the top ranked Buckeyes 65-61.
“We looked at the ‘do,’ and thought, ‘wow – that shows great school spirit – wouldn’t it be great if we could come up with a way to reward that spirit if it were shown by potential candidates for admission?’” reported Ted Spencer, the University’s Director of Undergraduate Admissions.
The result has been the creation of a new admission’s criterion which will give any applicant who shows up for their on campus interview an automatic 20 point bonus on the University’s 150 point admission’s scale if their hair is styled in the “winged helmet ‘do.'”
The new policy was received with immediate criticism. “This is just a sly way to re-implement the old 20 point minority bonus that the United States Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional,” stated Norman Olson of Alanson, Michigan.
In 2003, the University’s policy of giving 20 bonus points to minority applicants, including African-Americans, was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court because it was in violation of the Equal Protection’s Clause of the 14th Amendment. Petway is an African American.
“By the nature of their hair, it’s much easier for black people to shave designs into their hair-dos,” stated Olson. “Also, culturally, black people are far more prone to shave designs into their heads than white people.”
Spencer defended the new admission’s standard. “This new policy does not in any way favor any race or ethnic group,” explained Spencer. “Anybody can shave a design into their hair, no matter what their race is.” Spencer also explained that the new admission’s bonus contained a clause which would allow an applicant who is unable to grow hair to receive the bonus if they came to the interview with the winged helmet design painted or drawn on their head.
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