Racial diversity adds to higher ed experiences

With the U.S. Supreme Court taking up the issue of affirmative action relating to admissions policies adopted by colleges and universities, it is important that Americans understand what's at stake. It isn't about racial quotas. They were ruled unconstitutional in 1978 by the Supreme Court in the Bakke case.
Instead, the justices agreed this week to decide if an institution of higher learning can consider an applicant's race, just as it does the individual's family ties, wealth, athletic ability or involvement in extracurricular activities, in its evaluation. The issue can be summed up thus: Is the goal of building a racially diverse student body a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution?
We think not -- and for the past 25 years so has the high court. Now, however, racial diversity on college campuses hangs in a balance.
The justices will consider whether white applicants to the University of Michigan and its law school were unlawfully rejected because of their race. The case stems from a divided ruling in May from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati which said that the Constitution allows colleges and graduate schools to seek "a meaningful number" of minority students, so long as the school avoids a fixed-quota system.
The appeals court has yet to rule on a companion case involving the University of Michigan's undergraduate admissions policy, but the Supreme Court will address that issue as well.
Fallout
"It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the court's decision in these cases will directly affect the lives not only of this generation of students but of generations of students to follow," Theodore Shaw, counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, told justices in filing on behalf of black and Hispanic students.
Shaw has a valid concern. According to the Miami Herald, minorities constitute nearly half of the U.S. population today but make up only 28 percent of the enrollment in colleges and universities. And that 28 percent is a definite improvement from the 1960s when few minorities, even those with solid credentials, were permitted to walk through the doors of, say, the University of Alabama.
While proponents and opponents of race-conscious admissions policies welcome the Supreme Court's review of the University of Michigan case, any departure from what has been the standard for the past two decades cannot be taken lightly.
We have consistently argued that this nation has a responsibility to deal aggressively with the racial divide that still exists today. While great strides have been made in breaking down barriers in education and in the workplace, the goal of having a colorblind society remains elusive.
That is why racial diversity on college campuses is so important. It gives students the opportunity to get a close-up look at the differences that make America unique.