Race Still Matters

Now I am heading back to the Supreme Court as it again wrestles with affirmative action. This time, I will be representing African American and Latino undergraduate students who want to see affirmative action continue at the University of Michigan. As we prepare our case, dueling voices in the affirmative action debate resound. Arguments focused on "quotas," colorblindness and merit face off against those that emphasize historical and continuing discrimination, cumulative disadvantages, uneven playing fields and diversity. In the early 1990s I served on the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School. I was also a member of the admissions committee that designed the policy now before the Supreme Court. My goal was to ensure that the Law School abided by the letter of the law; I knew the importance of a squeaky-clean, Bakke-compliant admissions policy. Even then, it was evident that the university might be sued by those bent on ending affirmative action. The policy we adopted is faithful to Bakke -- no quotas, no separate admissions pool, a broad commitment to diversity of all types, and individualized consideration for all applicants. It is not the policy President Bush recently described when he announced the government's position in the Michigan cases.