How Does Racial/Ethnic Diversity Promote Education‪?‬

By the time this journal is published in July 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States will have rendered a decision on two important higher education affirmative action cases: Gratz v. Bollinger et al., and Grutter v. Bollinger et al. The crucial significance of the Court's decision for our nation cannot be underestimated, affecting not only the use of race as one of many factors in admissions at the University of Michigan, but also at every other selective college and university, both public and private, in the United States. The consequence of the Court's decision will be felt far beyond colleges and universities. The Court's decision will either support or undermine the opportunities of minority students for top leadership positions in the military, corporations, and other public and private institutions that draw especially from the nation's most selective higher education institutions. As amicus briefs submitted in behalf of the University respondents by former military leaders, Fortune Five Hundred corporations, a wide range of educational institutions from K-12 through professional schools, and many other American mainstream institutions, the decision will ultimately weigh heavily on their capacity to function effectively in our increasingly racially and ethnically diverse society. The military brief (No. 02-241, 02-516) states: