High court plays dodge ball High court plays dodge ball
From the Journal Sentinel Last Updated: June 26, 2001
Can colleges take race into account in admitting students? Some federal courts say yes; others say no. The U.S. Supreme Court, which is supposed to clear up such confusion, declined anew this week to act. The issue wasn't always so muddled. In 1978, the high court came out with its Bakke decision, ruling that colleges may practice affirmative action in admitting students so long as the policy does not entail rigid quotas. That precept soon sat on the desks of college admissions officers across America.
The Rehnquist court, however, only clouded the issue. While it has not ruled on affirmative action on campus, the court has grown increasingly hostile to the practice in other settings. Citing those cases, a federal appeals court outlawed any consideration of race in admissions by the University of Texas. It was an appeal of that ruling that the Supreme Court refused to hear the other day. What is the court's silence saying? Must admissions officers now tear up the Bakke guidelines? Not really.
After all, the court was equally mum in the appeal of an opposite ruling from Washington state. A month ago, the court let stand without comment a decision by an appeals court to permit the University of Washington to take race into account. So right now, the United States is a nation divided on the constitutionality of considering race among other factors in enrolling college students. The University of Michigan illustrates the split. One federal judge has backed the use of affirmative action in admitting undergraduates there, and another has rejected its use in admitting law students - cases that are destined for the Supreme Court.
Affirmative action serves important educational and social purposes. Research cited in the Michigan cases shows that racial diversity enhances learning. Affirmative action also serves to ease social tension by bringing members of excluded groups into the mainstream. It makes amends for past public policies designed to keep Americans of color at the bottom of society. And it meets the demands of corporate America, which increasingly wants a work force that can compete in a racially diverse world. The Supreme Court can run, but it can't hide from this issue forever. The sooner the court tackles it - preferably by backing this important corrective policy - the better.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 27, 2001.
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