BUSINESSES WANT
DIVERSITY THEY SUPPORT AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION PROGRAMS BUSINESSES WANT
DIVERSITY THEY SUPPORT AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION PROGRAMS
Posted on Wed, Feb. 05, 2003
The University of Michigan's affirmative-action enrollment program, which will be challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court this spring, may not have a friend in the White House, but it enjoys broad support in some other powerful places: corporate America and military-service academies. President Bush last month criticized the university's policy of including race as one of several entrance criteria to create a diverse student population.
He called it a ''quota'' system, which simply isn't the case. If Michigan's were a quota program, the university's black enrollment would mirror the nation's black population -- about 13 percent. But the school's black enrollment has ranged between 4 percent and 10 percent of the student population. And by focusing on race alone, the president narrowed the definition of affirmative action when, in truth, such programs address inclusion based on gender, national origin, geography, even age. Indeed, it's widely believed that women are the group that has benefited the most from these policies.
A diverse student body gives people a chance to interact with others from different backgrounds, cultures and economic circumstances. That's why the University of Michigan has friends such as 3M, Microsoft and Pepsico, to name a few, who have filed briefs with the court in support of the entrance-criteria program. The corporations want a diverse workforce.
They want to hire college grads with experience in dealing with others who are different, to put it bluntly. Many corporations are international in scope, and they need adaptable people comfortable with diversity. Plus, these firms read census data: America is becoming less homogeneous, far more diverse. For instance, Hispanics now are the nation's largest minority, surpassing blacks, according to the latest census.
The university also has support from a group of retired senior officers from the nation's service academies. The group also will file a friend-of-court brief. The officers are defending the minority admissions programs at West Point and the other service schools because they also use race as one of their entrance criteria. If Michigan's program is rejected, the service academies' could be next.
The nation's armed services were integrated a half-century ago, but the service academies remained the bastions of white males long after. Now they recruit women, Hispanics, blacks and other minorities to train as the U.S. military officer corps.
There was a time in America when the people in charge said they would hire minorities and women but couldn't find any who were qualified. Credit these businesses and the military for standing up for the university and for refusing to give that tired excuse new life.
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