Last Friday the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held a hearing on racial school assignments, which the Supreme Court will be considering in two cases this term. (See here, here, here, and here.)
Arthur Coleman, an attorney who wrote a brief supporting racial preferences at the University of Michigan, not surprisingly said racial assignment policies in K–12 schools were also good because they
increase diversity and provide real benefits to higher education. Those benefits include cross-racial understanding, the breaking down of stereotypes, and the preparation of students for a diverse workplace.
It wasn’t clear from the article whether Mr. Coleman presented any evidence substantiating his claim that those, or other, good things from from racial preferences.
Michael Yaki, a Commissioner, expressed his strong support for racial preferences, presumably for any and all age groups.
Mr. Yaki clashed with the commission’s chairman, Gerald A. Reynolds, who said the programs conflict with the rights of individuals to determine the schools their children attend.
“While these goals may be worthy to some,” Mr. Reynolds said, “the means result in a reduction in choice and in freedom, and that’s a bad thing.”
Harvard History professor Stephan Thernstrom wins the DISCRIMINATIONS prize (a totally free subscription!) for his comment:
“It is morally repugnant and contrary to the 14th Amendment to be telling students, ‘You’re white, go to that school; you’re black, go to that school; you’re Asian, go to that school,’” he said.
In short, he agrees with Chief Justice John Roberts’s powerful comment in the recent Texas redistricting case — “It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race” — that Ted Kennedy finds so offensive.
Some of take offense to Sen. Kennedy’s taking offense to treating people without regard to their race.
UPDATE [1 August]
Note the unintentionally humorous (as well as either incompetent or biased) way Stephan Thernstrom’s eloquent statement quoted above was rendered by the Inside Higher Ed reporter:
Stephan Thernstrom, a history professor at Harvard University, said the issue in K-12 is that school districts are trying to “engineer diversity.” Forcing students to go to schools, he said, is “morally repugnant.”
As a kid I always thought school attendance should be voluntary, but I’m surprised to see that Inside Higher Ed agrees.
Ah, the name “Coleman.” Another Coleman, sociologist James S., was a huge influence in the forced busing movement of the late 60s early 70s. After seeing what a failure busing was, he was one of the few to admit it — that his philosophy behind forced racial integration for educational benefits (primarily for lower class inner-city blacks attending mostly white suburban schools) was erroneous.
Let’s not forget the ladies: Mary Sue Coleman has certainly done her part. Are they related? Or are Colemans just strangely overrepresented in this nonsense?