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BARNARD
COLLEGE SIGNS FRIEND OF THE COURT BRIEF TO SUPPORT MICHIGAN
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASE
New York,
N.Y. - Barnard College has joined a "friend of the court"
legal brief among 28 of the nation's leading liberal arts
colleges in support of the University of Michigan's position
on affirmative action in the pending case before the U.S.
Supreme Court. The brief asks the court to preserve race as
one of many factors that colleges and universities may consider
when admitting students.
In addition to Barnard, the brief was signed by Amherst, Bates,
Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Colby, Connecticut, Davidson,
Franklin and Marshall, Hamilton, Hampshire, Haverford, Macalester,
Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Pomona, Sarah Lawrence,
Smith, Swarthmore, Trinity, Vassar, Washington and Lee, Wellesley
and Williams Colleges, and Wesleyan and Tufts Universities.
Barnard President Judith Shapiro said the College was proud
to join the brief to demonstrate support for "race-sensitive
admissions as key to creating the rich and diverse learning
environment that benefits all students."
In the amici curiae brief, the colleges urged the high court
to consider the progress toward equal opportunity in college
admissions that has evolved because of race-conscious approaches
to student selection. The brief reminded the court that before
the 1960s when these 28 colleges began aiming for racial diversity
on their campuses, only token numbers of African-American
students enrolled there.
"Research and experience suggests that for small, highly
selective colleges… carving out race from all the other
kinds of diversity that colleges consciously aim for will
have a predictable, substantial, re-segregating effect, probably
moving black students from roughly 5-7 percent of the student
body to 2 percent."
The colleges also argue in the brief that alternative proposals
to admit a percentage of a high school class or focus on class
or economic circumstances without looking at racial background
can't work for their schools, if the objective is to enroll
a class that is both academically excellent and diverse.
In addition, the brief asks the court to weigh the benefits
of affirmative action in higher education in a society in
which discrimination still lingers.
"Even today, with their outreach efforts and consideration
of color and ethnic background in the admissions process,
none of the [28] colleges enrolls African-American students
in anything like their proportion of the high school population,"
the brief stated.
In a recent statement in support of affirmative action policies,
Shapiro said: "The White House has chosen to oppose one
of the most powerful strategies that institutions of higher
education have at their disposal in attempting to realize
the goals of equality and justice for all."
The statement noted that a landmark 1998 study showed that
minority graduates of selective institutions had achieved
a remarkable level of success over the last decades.
"The freedom to pursue diversity is especially worthy
of protection because diversity benefits all students,"
said Shapiro. "… it is my deepest hope that the
principle of affirmative action will continue to make this
opportunity available throughout our country.
Contact:
Suzanne Trimel, Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-7583
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