"Racism has always been a problem" at the university, said Lewis, a senior, but it has become "more overt and directed to violence" in last few years.
Racism is also an underlying cause in the high attrition rate of Black students, said Eunice Royster, director of the university's comprehensive studies program, which helps minority students with their studies.
Only 58.6 percent of the Black students entering the university in 1979 had graduated by 1985, a figure considerably lower than the 74.5 percent graduation rate for students as a whole, according to the campus newpspaper, The Michigan Daily.
Royster said that racism is not confined to the university, but that "attention has been focused on Michigan because of its excellent reputation as an academic institution."
"We are a premier research institution" that prides itself on being on the cutting edge of everything, Royster said. "You expect more from an institution of this caliber."
Royster said that graffiti such as swastikas painted on the buildings, and students cursing at minorities and even hurling objects at them indicates that racism is a part of everyday life at the University of Michigan.