thanks, R
----- Original Message -----
From: Luke Weiger
To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 4:56 PM
Subject: Fw: Today's Law School Ruling
----- Original Message -----
From: "B. Joseph White" <bjosephwhite at umich.edu>
Today, we have learned that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has found in
our favor in the Grutter case and determined our Law School admissions
policy to be constitutional. A majority of the court said our admissions
program meets the guidelines established by the Supreme Court in the Bakke
decision. The full decision can be found on the web at
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/newopn.pl?puid= or at
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=6th&navby=case&no=02a
0170p.
This is a great day for the University of Michigan and for all of higher
education, as well as for the numerous corporations, educational groups, and
others who filed amicus briefs in support of the University. I am pleased
that the court recognized that diversity brings educational benefits to all
students. This is part of the University's historic and significant
commitment to diversity in all its facets, and today's decision reaffirms
our community's long-standing values. We must prepare our students to learn
and to lead in the world's most diverse democracy.
The court noted that our Law School admissions policy, adopted by the
faculty in 1992, is "virtually indistinguishable" from the Harvard plan held
out as a model in the Bakke decision. The court found that our policy
considers each applicant as an individual in making admissions decisions,
and does not shield any applicant from competing with the rest of the
applicant pool. "The record demonstrates that the Law School does not
employ a quota for underrepresented minority students," the majority opinion
stated. "Essentially, both the Law School's admission policy and the
Harvard plan attend to the numbers of underrepresented minority students to
ensure that all students---minority and majority alike---will be able to
enjoy the benefits of an academically diverse student body."
The case challenging our undergraduate admissions policy (Gratz v.
Bollinger) has not yet been decided by the appeals court. As you may
recall, the district court previously upheld our undergraduate admissions
program.
I am sure these court decisions will generate many questions within our
community. Once decisions have been rendered in both cases, we will be
working to plan a public forum where experts will be available to provide
analysis of the cases and respond to questions about their impact. Please
watch the University's web site at http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/
for details about this event.
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