The Atlanta Constitution used to say — maybe it still does — that it “Covers Dixie Like the Dew.” In that spirit it’s safe to say that the Chronicle of Higher Education has been covering the University of Michigan race preferences cases, Gratz (undergraduate admissions) and Grutter (law school admissions), like, well, white on rice.
There are four articles today, which I will discuss individually as I can get to them. (Alas, my wife keeps reminding me, I have other things to do besides blog). But here’s a preview (all links require subscription):
Peter Schmidt, in “Supporters of Race-Conscious Admissions Say Research Backs Their Position,” reports on a “media briefing” in which the American Educational Research Association, the American Association for Higher Education, and Association of American Colleges and Universities claim that diversity has positive educational benefits. The article also quotes some critics saying that claim has not been established, and that in any event those benefits, if they exist, can be realized without racial preferences. There is also the question of how substantial any benefits must be in order to be viewed as “compelling” by the court. More later on this. The article also discussed a new study, “Revisiting Bakke: and Diversity-Based Admissions: Constitutional Law, Social Science Research, and the University of Michigan Affirmative Action Cases,” released by the pro-diversity (and pro-busing) Civil Rights Project at Harvard. I will also have something to say about this study later.
A. Lee Parks, an Atlanta lawyer who has argued against racial preferences, presents the closing argument he would make in the Michigan cases if he were giving it.
Michael Higginbotham, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, and Kathleen Bergin, an attorney in Boston, present their mock closing argument, defending race preferences.
Finally, there is an article on the new study questioning the educational benefits of diversity. This article had appeared online about ten days ago, and I discussed it and the study here. So, that leaves only the three above, plus the Harvard study, on my plate for today.
