BY VALERHE JOHNSON
BOSTON - In a packed court room, Federal judge Arthur Garrity Jr. denied a request for a preliminary injunction August 28 that would have allowed Julia McLaughlin, a white student entering the seventh grade, into Boston Latin School at the start of the school year. Michael McLaughlin filed a lawsuit on August 11, charging that his daughter was denied admission to this "examination school" because of "reverse discrimination." Admission policies for Boston Latin, considered Boston's most prestigous school, set aside 35 percent of the school seats for Black and Hispanic students.
This case is shaping up as a major fight around the questions of desegregation and affirmative action.
Garrity was chosen to be the judge in this case because he originally presided over the desegregation of the Boston schools which began more than 20 years ago. Between 1974 and 1976 a pitched battle was fought involving thousands in a mass movement for school desegregation led by Black students and parents. That movement won the right to equal education and the end of segregation that existed in the Boston public school system. Before then a dual school system existed which relegated Black students to schools inferior to those of white students. This pattern of intentional segregation, addressed in Garrity's 1974 ruling, included the examination schools. Garrity presided over the Boston schools until 1990. That year the administration of the school system was returned to the Boston School Committee with the specific order that it could not be resegregated.
McLaughlin complained that his daughter scored higher on the exams than 149 students who were accepted, and that the admission of 103 Black and Hispanic students instead of her was unconstitutional discrimination against her because she is white. He argued in court that his daughter had been preparing since the first grade for Boston Latin, and that test scores should be the only factor for admission. He has another daughter currently attending Boston Latin.
Preventing resegregation
The city and school department lawyer, Henry C. Dinger,
defended the current admission policy and the 35 percent
quota, pointing out it that it prevents the resegregation of
Boston Latin.
An affidavit submitted by Latin School headmaster Michael G. Contompasis said: "If we did not set aside a portion of the seats...we would substantially resegregrate Boston Latin School" by reducing Black and Hispanic enrollments by more than half. This, he said, "would diminish the quality of education that all students receive."
Thomas Atkins, the NAACP attorney who filed the original desegregation suit that Judge Garrity ruled on in 1974, sat at the defense table with Dinger. Atkins is seeking to intervene in the case as amicus curiae.
Judge Garrity stressed that this case is separate from the 1974 desegregation case. His denial of McLaughlin's request for an injunction pointed out that if Julia was admitted that week it would throw school assignments not only at Boston Latin, but possibly throughout the system into "chaos." He indicated that Boston Latin is the most "over-chosen school" in the city, meaning more students choose to go there than there are seats available, and that this year there are 24 "over chosen schools" on all levels. Garrity explained, "Others, because of race, are denied other schools, not just whites, and that denial of preference works both ways."
In his ruling Garrity said the case is the "cutting edge" in issues about the constitutionality of using race- based admissions formulas.
Larry Overlan, president of the New England Public Policy Institute, wrote in the Boston Globe, "About 65 percent of the white and Asian students and about 40 percent of the black and Latino students attended private schools before attending Boston Latin. Since only 12 percent of students in Massachusetts attend private schools, it appears they have a much higher probability of gaining admission to Boston Latin than do those applying from public schools."
Many of the private or parochial schools prepare students specifically to take the entrance exam. While test scores are one of the considerations for admission into Boston Latin, other factors are considered McLaughlin conveniently leaves out the fact that 46 of the "lower- scoring children" admitted instead of Julia where neither Black nor Hispanic.
Students' opinions
Five Boston Latin School students gave their reactions
to the lawsuit and to the issues it raises in a Boston Globe
article August 22. They said they hoped the policy of
reserving 35 percent of the seats for Blacks and Hispanics
can be eliminated some day, but pointed out that such a day
is far off, because some discrimination continues and
because of the inequality between students whose parents can
afford to send them to private schools and those whose
parents can't. "If it were fair-square-even, we wouldn't
need it, but the kids who go to private schools have a
better chance," said Meghan Sullivan.
Deborah Milstein stated, "I don't think the country's ready" to abandon affirmative action "because the problems go a lot deeper because of prejudice."
Jay Lynch, a Black mother on the parent council at Latin, said, "The playing field is not equal, students are not getting in based on merit, but based on the purse."
McLaughlin has stated he may invite other parents to join him in making this a class action suit. He said he may also set up a legal defense fund and go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Maceo Dixon, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for Boston City Council at-large and a leader of the fight to desegregate the schools here in the 1970s, released a statement to the press in support of Judge Garrity's ruling calling it a "victory for civil rights.'
Dixon is using his campaign to speak out in defense of affirmative action and school desegregation. He is pointing out that the struggle for better education for all can only be advanced by fighting for equal education for Blacks and Latinos.
Desegregation and affirmative action won't be taken away without a struggle. It is clear the working class won important gains through the movement that fought for equal education, and the working class is stronger today because of this fight.
Valerie Johnson is the Socialist Workers Party candidate for city council in Boston's District 3, and a member of United Transportation Union Local 1473.