The Department of Justice received a letter Thursday requesting the legal opinion of Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen regarding the University of Wisconsin System's new admissions policy.
The letter, signed by state Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and 18 other state legislators, questions the Board of Regents' decision to use race and ethnicity in evaluating applicants to all 26 UW System campuses. It is set to go into effect this fall.
Van Hollen, a Republican, addressed the letter Thursday at a luncheon sponsored by Wispolitics.com, an online news service, but would not confirm whether the DOJ would look into the request.
"I haven't had a chance to talk with line attorneys who specialize in this area of the law," Van Hollen said. "So I'm not in a position to say what, if anything, we're going to do with regards to this request other than that we have received it, [we will] thoroughly evaluate it, and we're going to determine how to move forward after that."
The state attorney general is required by law to respond to some requests — such as formal committee, legislative body or requests by the Legislature — but may choose whether to respond, formally or informally, to all other public requests, or requests from single legislators.
As with any legal decision, Van Hollen said he would not allow his political interests to influence his judgment.
"I'm not going to let my personal philosophy interfere with the way we do our job," Van Hollen said. "Whether I have an opinion based upon race being used in admissions or not is absolutely, wholly irrelevant at this time."
The state statute legislators are asking Van Hollen to examine, 36.11(3)(a), states, "No sectarian or partisan tests or any tests based upon race … shall ever be allowed in the admission of students."
UW System officials have argued the policy is simply an extension of an existing UW-Madison admissions policy and would help all UW System schools ensure a diverse, cultural blend of student perspectives.
State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, called the Board of Regents' policy "social engineering" and said he thinks the UW System is "ultimately going to lose this battle."
"I think a lot of taxpayers expect UW to look at grades and academic performance," Suder said. "I think their policy is an exclusive policy for rural white kids."
At the luncheon, Van Hollen also addressed Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed budget and his allocation for 15 new State Crime Laboratory analysts to help with the current DNA evidence backlog.
"This had become an emergency situation — an emergency situation in the regards that the backlog was growing so fast, that the sooner we addressed it, the fewer resources we needed to do so," Van Hollen said. "The longer we waited, the more taxpayer dollars we're going to have to request to deal with the problem."
Shortly before Doyle announced his budget Feb. 13, the DOJ released a report calling for $7.7 million to immediately finance 31 new analysts to eliminate the backlog by 2010. Through the normal budget process, the report said it would take 37 analysts and more funding to eliminate the backlog by the same time.
"If we don't get more than 15 positions, the backlog is going to continue to grow unless we find another way to deal with that," Van Hollen added.
DOJ spokesperson Kevin St. John said the department is still pursuing emergency funding for the new positions from the current budget, because he said it would address the backlog sooner and would cost less in the long run.
Suder, generally considered a staunch conservative on the Legislature's budget committee, said he would be willing to allocate additional funding and more analysts if the DOJ can prove it needs the resources.
"The delay of justice has reached a crisis level," Suder said. "I'm going to push for the amount of money that it takes to solve the crime lab backlog."
