affirmative action - UM - supreme court (wha-hoppin?!)

Jun 23 20:24 UTC 2003

supreme court, in two split decisions, upheld and trashed affirmative
action at UM. ... wel, which is it? upheld or trashed.
  

response 2 of 113:

Jun 23 20:51 UTC 2003

The Supreme Court ruled today on racial balancing though college
admissions policies.  The policy of U of M's undergraduate admissions
allowed for 20 additional points (out of 150 total) to be awarded based on
the applicant being of an under-represented race.  The U of M's law school
policy didn't award points but allowed prejudice in selecting for race
among qualified applicants. 

Or at least that's how I understand the issue.

The court ruled against the undergraduate policy but left the law school
policy stand. 

I interpret this to mean it's fine for a school to select for a racially
balanced student body among equally qualified applicants.  But it goes too
far to use race as a mechanism for joining the qualified pool of
applicants. 

If I got that right then I'm pleased with the ruling.  It's time. 

The vote was 6-to-3 on the undergraduate ruling and 5-to-4 on the
law school verdict.

response 4 of 113:

Jun 24 00:34 UTC 2003

For those who aren't on the UM's email system, excerpts from a campus-wide
email written by President Coleman:

----

A majority of the Court has strongly reaffirmed the principle of diversity
articulated by justice Powell in the Bakke decision.  The Court said that it
"endorses Justice Powell's view that student body diversity is a compelling
state interest."  Universities can continue to use race as one of many factors
in an individualized admissions process.

[...]

These decisions are a wonderful victory for the University of Michigan, for all
of higher education, and for the hundreds of groups and thousands of
individuals who supported us.

The Court has provided two important signals.  The first is a green light to
pursue racial and ethnic diversity in the college classroom.  The second is a
pathway to get us there.  The Law School policy clearly met the Court's
criteria for a holistic admissions process.  We will modify our undergraduate
admissions process to follow today's guidance from the Court. . . .  We expect
to have a revised undergraduate admissions process in place this Autumn.

[...]

I am proud of the role of the University of Michigan in this important debate.
We argued for fair and equal access.  Now, we will do whatever it takes to
recruit the finest, most diverse student body possible, within the provisions
of today's decisions.

[...]

[O]ur commitment to a diverse campus will continue. . . . [And,] every student
admitted to our University will continue to be eminently well qualified.

[...]

I expect that members of our community will engage in a full and robust debate
of many related issues.  I anticipate this discussion will be civil and
respectful of all points of view.  Your right to freedom of expression is
paramount at the University of Michigan.  This is a hallmark of our educational
system, and one of which I am most proud.

In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to provide updated information
on our main University WWW site [www.umich.edu].

This is an historic day for our University.  You may look to me for leadership
as we adapt to the new provisions of the law, and I will look to all of you for
inspiration.

With my best wishes,

Mary Sue Coleman
President

response 6 of 113:

Jun 24 12:08 UTC 2003

Severed arm??  What severed arm?

response 8 of 113:

Jun 24 13:12 UTC 2003

It is far nicer that the courts only specify what cannot be done, and 
leave open what remains, rather than specifying what can be done.  
Mainly, this is because the courts cannot possibly imagine all possible 
scenarios which their rulings may affect.

response 10 of 113:

Jun 24 13:40 UTC 2003

I haven't read that much about the rulings.  What's struck me most is 
Mary Sue Coleman, president of U-M, citing the new decisions as 
unqualified victory.  It seems she was willing to cite just about 
anything as a victory.  I whimsically imagine a decision like this:

Supreme Court: We rule the U-M has used racial quotas, which is 
discriminatory.  The U-M should be disbanded and it's grounds sewn with 
salt.

Coleman: We hail this ruling as an unqualified victory.  The Supreme 
Court has clearly supported U-M in it's pursuit of diversity by not 
mandating what brand of salt.

In fact, the Supreme Court has *ended* U-M's policy of giving 20 bonus 
points to racial minorities for undergraduate admissions, which is the 
means the university has used to achieve the racial balance they 
wanted.  The door has been left open to giving racial preference, but 
only on a case by case basis.  Individually!  It seems to me this will 
either cut way back on racial preference, or make it very, very 
expensive for the university.

In practice, I don't think even the U-M can do *all* of it's admissions 
on an individual case by case basis.  That's what they'd need to do to 
even approach the racial percentages they've tried to maintain.

President Coleman has managed, very quickly and efficiently, to put a 
positive spin on it for the university and to get that spin quoted 
nation-wide in headlines.  Good for her.  But I don't see how the 
Supreme Court could have ruled much more against U-M's policies.  I 
think this was a nearly complete loss for the university's racial 
preference system, and for colleges across the country which try to 
achieve or maintain racial quotas, percentages or "balances".

I mostly don't know what I think about the rulings yet.  We'll see what 
the effects are in 10 years or so.  I expect I'll have formed opinions 
about these two decisions before then.  (-:

I did see something to be optimistic about in what little I've read.  
The Supreme Court appears to believe racial preferences are a temporary 
measure which ought to be dispensed with at some point.  Justice Sandra 
Day O'Connor wrote, "We expect that 25 years from now, the use of 
racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest 
approved today."  Also from O'Conner: "We take the law school at its 
word that it would 'like nothing better than to find a race-neutral 
admissions formula' and will terminate its race-conscious admissions 
program as soon as practicable."