As the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a request Gruttner v. Bollinger, the argument concerning the role of race in admissions policies at the University of Michigan Law School, the nation's educators, students and advocates on both sides await the implications of such a monumental case.
The case, which was originally filed in 1997, accuses the UM Law School of discriminating against applicants based on ethnic background. The UM, which said Sept. 20 it would ask the Supreme Court not to hear the case, maintains its practices are constitutional.
Roger Clegg, general counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, said that he predicts the Supreme Court will most likely hear the case, as well as Gratz v. Bollinger, a similar case challenging the undergraduate admissions policies at the UM.
\I think they will likely grant a review in both cases for three reasons,"" he said. ""Number one, there is a considerable amount of conflict between what the lower courts have said and what the appeals have stated. Secondly, it is an issue of great national importance, and finally, the 6th Circuit Court simply got it wrong.""
Clegg, who filed an amicus brief for the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, added that while basic affirmative action policies at tier-one national schools is perfectly legal, such as the encouragement of minority applications, current selection practices by school boards like the UM are not.
""I don't think that any judgment based on racial and ethnic preferences is constitutional,"" he said.
But those on the other side of the argument, like Marshall Rose, a director for Region 5 of the American Association for Affirmative Action, which includes the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, say that any reversal of existing law would be a mistake.
""There are documented, empirical studies that display that diversity is a part of the overall educational process, and if it is that important, then we as educators cannot go at it with our eyes closed,"" he said. ""Diversity morally and educationally makes sense, and for now it is legally all right to consciously try to achieve diversity in schools.""
Rose added that he would like to see a more honest approach from admissions boards in regards to their goals and purposes for racial profiling, but said even if the Supreme Court overturned the circuit court's decision and declared it unconstitutional to consider race in student admissions, the fight for affirmative action would not end.
""We can go back to Brown v. the Board of Education and further debate 'separate, but equal,'"" Rose said. ""But those of us who have a dream of an integrated and equal society will be prepared to fight until we succeed.""
Although most opponents of the policies say that schools admit minorities solely for good public relations, according to Martin Sweet, a political science professor at UW-Madison with an expertise in Supreme Court and racial issues, there are a host of reasons why schools encourage a diverse student population.
""The role of diversity in admissions is sometimes thought of as reparations for past wrongs, or a more successful way to bring minorities to professional schools so they can work in their own communities, or simply that school officials place student diversity at the top of their charts and make it a priority,"" Sweet said. ""The admissions process is really so individualized, it can vary by admissions officer.""
Opponents also state that universities discriminate by filling unwritten quotas, or using numbers for the sake of numbers.
""It's absolutely a quota system,"" said Glenn Rickertts, public affairs director for the National Association of Scholars, a group that supports admission policy change. ""One of the indicating problems is that minority doctorates have declined in the past 15 years. They are letting minorities in, but not allowing them to succeed.""
Rickertts also said he saw the current practices on campuses as being detrimental to overall student climate and the basic purposes of diversity itself.
""Minorities are segregated even more so now than in the '60s,"" he said. ""There needs to be a leave alone, hands-off attitude towards diversity, the basic belief that things will right themselves without the need of special help. Otherwise it just creates a feeling of us and them.""
