Loury Says Color Made Hiring Stance an Issue

Professor of Political Economy and Afro-American Studies Glenn C. Loury said yesterday that it is because he is Black that his stand against affirmative action has become an issue in his nomination to a top Reagan Administration post.

"People are opposing my views on affirmative action because of the fact that I am Black," said Loury, who is expected to be nominated to the post of Undersecretary of Education next month. "I find this profoundly ironic," he added in a telephone interview yesterday.

"My views are reasonable and defensible," Loury said. "They are well-intended and not extreme. They are the kind of views held by a lot of people in public life now."

Opponents to the Administration's civil rights policies said last week they are mobilizing to stop Loury, who if confirmed by the Senate would become the second-highest ranking Black in the Reagan Administration and the second most powerful man in the Education Department.

It had been reported six weeks ago that Loury was to be nominated to the post, but the Reagan Administration did not send him to the Senate last week for confirmation as expected.

An Administration official denied Friday thatthe nomination was being delayed for politicalreasons.

"There are no problems with the nomination, andit is going through as quickly as possible," saidthe Education Department official, who spoke onthe condition of anonymity.

But in an unusual move, the Administration isexpected publicly to confirm today that Loury'snomination is not experiencing any trouble andthat it will be made in June. In the past theAdministration has prohibited its officials fromdiscussing for the record any details concerningnominations.

Both Loury and the Administration areresponding to reports that civil rights groupswere preparing to oppose the 38-year-old KennedySchool professor's nomination because of hisopposition to affirmative action as a "stigma" onBlacks.

The National Association for the Advancement ofColored People (NAACP) will oppose the nominationwhen it arrives on Capitol Hill, and the UnitedNegro College Fund, the Urban League, and theNational Education Association said they areconsidering following its lead.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.), chairmanof the Senate committee that would hear Loury'snomination, "will want to question Mr. Louryclosely on his stands on affirmative action," aKennedy aide said last week.

Loury has vocally criticized affirmative actionin several articles and books. He said thataffirmative action in the form of preferentialtreatment has many problems.

"White males have rights too," he said lastweek. "People are being denied positions when theyare the best qualified applicant because they donot fit into one of the protected categories. Ithink that one has to have very compellingarguments in order to justify it."

Loury also argued that affirmative actionplaces a stigma on Blacks and demoralizes them.

"When you have different standards in order totry to get the numbers closer, you create asituation where every minority candidate issuspect, having been admitted under thosedifferent standards," he said.

"When I hear kids around Harvard, who are someof the most advantaged human beings on this earth,talking in terms that suggest that withoutaffirmative action they don't have a chance inlife, I worry about the demoralization of thespirit of these people," he said.

Loury said yesterday that if confirmed he hopesto bring his opinions to public policy debates and tothe education of "disadvantaged kids."

"If I am able to project my views more fullyonto the policy debate, get some of these thingson the table, and use my office, I can make amodest contribution toward pushing social policyin the right direction," Loury said yesterday