Stanford and MIT have filed a brief together supporting the University of Michigan’s use of racial preferences. At least that is how the brief will probably be described. Stanford and MIT were not the only signatories to this brief, however. In addition to them, the brief also represented DuPont and IBM as well as several academic associations.
As an occasionally loyal Stanford alum (both undergraduate and graduate) who well recalls the various protests of the 1960s, I was struck by the unblushing manner in which this brief reveals the degree to which science and engineering at Stanford and MIT (the central emphasis of the brief was on science and engineering) are the handmaidens of large corporations. Back in my student days this would have been the subject of bitter and derisive criticism from the student left, which has now fallen into line and marches proudly under corporate banners. From the brief:
As minority representation in the population steadily increases, their underrepresentation in science and engineering fields becomes ever more consequential to the ability of American businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace.
[….]
In seeking to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of their science and engineering programs, selective private universities, such as MIT and Stanford, as well as public ones, define their educational missions broadly to include service of the nation to meet the great challenges of the times. Thus, they are motivated in part by the needs of the important professions and occupations in which their students will find employment.39 Employers of scientists and engineers seek diverse candidates, and they rely on colleges and universities to provide them with employees who possess the skills necessary to succeed in today
