LANSING - Administrators sought to reaffirm the University's commitment to racial and ethnic diversity by outlining the steps it is taking to keep minority enrollment from plummeting in a presentation here yesterday.

Part of the challenge of maintaining diversity in higher education without using race as a preferential factor in admissions and financial aid, which is now illegal, is that there are quality differences between inner-city and suburban public schools. Students at many failing inner-city schools are largely black and Latino, while students at the higher-performing suburban schools are largely white.

"People have no idea that there are such disparities," said Patricia Gurin, a professor emerita at the University.

Lester Monts, the University's senior vice provost, said that's why Michigan needs to invest more in public education in light of the move of many students from public schools to charter and private schools. Better financial packages, he said, are also needed, so that students from lower economic statuses are able to attend the University. Without that investment in K-12 public education, students will have a harder time succeeding in college.

"We're bartering our future away," Monts said.

The presentation was given to the Wolverine Caucus, a group of legislators, lobbyists and state government officials with ties to the University.

One of the main points of the presentation was to update the caucus on what the University is doing to respond to the limitations of Proposal 2, which banned affirmative action in the state last year.

These actions include the Diversity Blueprints task force, which the University formed in the winter to brainstorm ways to keep the University diverse. It met with other universities where affirmative action is banned - like the universities of California, Texas and Georgia - to come up with recommendations on how to maintain diversity while still staying within the new legal restrictions.

Monts and Assistant General Counsel Maya Kobersy both stressed that one of the main strategies the University is employing in order to continue to promote diversity is educational outreach to public high schools.

Other ways the University is reaching out to would-be applicants include entering into partnerships with high schools and launching summer programs.

President Coleman has also given commencement addresses at several high schools. Over Fall Break, the University is sending a group of students to interview and talk with students and administrators at universities without affirmative action programs so they can come back with ideas on how to shape the University's outreach programs.

Gurin pointed out that promoting diversity at the University was about more than just achieving the right racial balance in Ann Arbor.

"Our leaders must come from all sectors of society," she said.

One of the biggest problems the University faces in trying to avoid a drop-off in minority enrollment is that it might be perceived by admitted students as hostile to minorities because of Proposal 2.

"We need to figure out how to convert our admits into enrollees," Monts said.

But Monts and other speakers were careful to point out that it's not yet clear what Proposal 2 meant for the number of minority students in this year's freshman class, because the University doesn't have final enrollment numbers yet.

"We think we did fairly well," Monts said. "But we'll have an accurate count in a few weeks."

State Sen. Liz Brater (D--Ann Arbor) opened the forum by talking about another issue that has been at the forefront of the University's attention in the last few weeks: Michigan's budget crisis.

Brater said the current budget negotiations were something she couldn't ignore, even at an event about Proposal 2's effects on the University of Michigan.

"It's like having a death in the family," she said. "I can't ignore it."