As the Supreme Court prepares to undertake the most significant affirmative action case since 1978's Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, lawmakers, universities, corporations, and labor organizations are scrambling to make their voices heard in support of the University of Michigan's admissions practices. Those practices have been challenged as reverse discrimination by two white students denied admission. Arguments in that lawsuit are expected to be heard by the court on April 1.
The White House has already filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing Michigan's admissions program, and has asked the Supreme Court for permission to participate in the April 1 oral arguments.
A number of prominent higher education institutions have blamed the increasingly hostile climate surrounding programs with race-conscious admissions policies for forcing changes in the requirements of programs they offer students.
'Friends of the Court' Weigh In
Colleges are not the only organizations weighing in on the upcoming case. The American Bar Association, labor unions (including the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers), the American Council of Education (on behalf of 54 national higher education organizations, including NASFAA), and other education groups, legal associations, former military leaders, and numerous civil rights groups have all filed briefs.
Additionally, 20 Fortune 500 corporations, including General Motors, Texaco, Microsoft, DuPont, and Dow, have filed briefs supporting the University of Michigan. A release from the university noted that "all the companies recruit at the University of Michigan or similar leading institutions of higher education." The brief also states that "racial and ethnic diversity in institutions of higher education is vital to the corporations' efforts to hire and maintain an effective workforce."
At a Feb. 13 news conference more than 100 House Democrats also stated their intent to issue a brief in favor of the university. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Cal.) said in a statement that "Affirmative action in education gives students a ladder to climb over the barriers to opportunity. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration wants to haul that ladder away....It is encouraging to see the groundswell of support for the University of Michigan's affirmative action program.
In all, it is expected that more than 50 amicus curiae briefs from 300 different organizations will be filed in favor of the university's practices by the court's Feb. 18 deadline, with a large number of briefs expected by those who oppose such preferences.
Colleges Respond to Pressure, Change Program Policies
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last week elected to change the admissions requirement for two of its summer enrichment programs designed to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in science and engineering.
The two programs - one for incoming college freshmen and the other aimed at high school seniors - were only open to African American, Native American, and Hispanic students. MIT agreed to accept white and Asian American students to the program after two civil rights groups claimed the program was discriminatory.
MIT Dean of Undergraduate Education Robert Redwine noted that while the program will be open to all races, it will still "take many factors into account when selecting students for these programs, such as academic qualifications, and whether the individual is the first generation in his or her family to be headed for college, comes from a high school that does not send a high percentage of students to four-year colleges, comes from a background that presents challenges for success at an elite urban institution such as MIT, or comes from a racial or ethnic minority group that is under-represented in educational programs and careers in science and engineering."
However, despite changing program requirements MIT remains a strong proponent of policies designed to increase campus diversity. MIT President Charles Vest announced Feb. 14 that the institution will file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court, supporting race-conscious admissions.
"MIT for decades has been a leader in building the diversity of our own community and of the engineering and science workforce and leadership of America," Vest said at an annual breakfast honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. "And it is not going to lose that edge on my watch."
In a similar case, Princeton University recently opted to open admissions to a minorities-only summer program to all students. Princeton officials made the decision after university lawyers determined that the summer program's admissions policy would probably not survive a court challenge "in this legal climate," Robert K. Durkee, the university's vice president for public affairs, told the Chronicle of Higher Education.
By Elizabeth B. Guerard
NASFAA Assistant Director of Communications
Posted February 19, 2003 on
www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
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