In an article today in the Detroit Free Press, Derrick Bell reports that some lawyers are saying (hopefully, one imagines) that “no one should be surprised if it takes a dozen years to sort out the lawsuits” over the newly passed Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI).
As we’ve seen (here and here), BAMN has already gone to court, and in a speech bristling with defiance University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman threatens to do so.
But listen to this, as reported by Bell today:
Coleman said in a telephone interview Thursday that she is not suggesting that U-M is outside the law. She said she asked university lawyers to examine the issue because “I think the language is pretty vague. We need some guidance.”
“I certainly respect the democratic process,” Coleman said, “but I have a large responsibility to keep the university the best I possibly can for the people of Michigan.”
It would be interesting to hear just what part of the ban on preferences Coleman doesn’t understand. As Bell observes:
It is difficult to argue that the proposal was not aimed at U-M’s use of race in admissions. Gratz [who, the Supreme Court found, was rejected by UM because of her race] was the campaign director for Proposal 2, and the amendment begins, “The University of Michigan … shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race…”
The University of Michigan has a fundraising campaign called The Michigan Difference. Perhaps its real “difference” is that it is above the law of the state that created it.
Or, as President Coleman in effect said, “I am not above the law, but….”
I posed a question on Dick Polman’s web site that you might not have seen, so I will post it here. Since you have championed Ward Connerly’s efforts in Michigan, are you also in support of his efforts to ensure that homosexual partners received full partner benefits as employees of the UC system?
Maybe her inability to understand forecasts the eventual product of a University dedictated to diversity instead of learning. Is the future kicking us to find out if we’re sleeping or dead?
In an article today in the Detroit Free Press, Derrick Bell reports that some
John, when I read that, I thought, “Law professor Derrick ‘I’m going to throw a tantrum until Harvard hires a black professor’ Bell”?
In fact, it’s Dawson Bell.