Diversity defense Diversity defense
By 0, 2/20/2003
MOVING FROM Desert Storm to college dorms, retired general Norman Schwarzkopf this week joined a group of politicians and former military leaders to submit an eloquent brief to the US Supreme Court. It explains the military's successful use of affirmative action and defends the University of Michigan, which is being sued over its admissions process and has drawn similar criticism from President Bush.
The brief is not ideological and expresses no desire to make up for past discrimination. It relies instead on an elegant analysis of facts, history, and present-day needs. In 1948, President Truman issued an executive order to integrate the military. This was a ''military necessity'' that would ''ensure efficiency and combat readiness.'' Resistance and delays followed, but the Korean War's casualties and slow troop replacements eventually made the inefficiency of segregation intolerable.
The Vietnam War exposed the dangers of a diverse enlisted force led by a nearly all-white officers corps. Black soldiers faced everything from discrimination to racially motivated violence - problems largely missed by officers. Eventually military leaders concluded that this racial strife was damaging the military and jeopardizing national security. To find diverse officer candidates, the military draws from its service academies - including West Point and the Air Force and Naval academies - and from college ROTC programs.
If these institutions were not diverse, the military would lose valuable applicants. The theory behind the military's practice is explained in the brief. ''At present no alternative exists to limited, race-conscious programs,'' it reads. It argues that the military's and Michigan's race-conscious policies are constitutional, adhering to the Supreme Court's 1978 Bakke ruling allowing some affirmative action.
The policies serve a compelling governmental interest - protecting national security - through narrowly tailored means. What if service academies and ROTC programs admitted people using class rankings, an approach President Bush supports? ''This one-dimensional criterion forces the admission of students with neither the academic nor physical capabilities nor the leadership qualities demanded by these institutions, damaging the corps and the military mission in the process,'' it explains.
''The military must both maintain selectivity in admissions and train and educate a racially diverse officer corps to command racially diverse troops.'' Admitting ''a top percentage will not simultaneously produce high quality and diversity.'' The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the Michigan case in April. But the whole country should listen, especially to this brief which explains how and why America should achieve diversity and excellence.
This story ran on page A14 of the Boston Globe on 2/20/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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