LCCR Condemns Administration's Stance on Diversity in Education
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 1/15/2003
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation's oldest, largest, and most diverse civil rights coalition, today condemned the Bush Administration for its decision to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the affirmative action policies of the University of Michigan."The White House is trying to thread the needle," stated Wade Henderson, Executive Director of LCCR. "It is playing to its right-wing, anti-affirmative action base, yet trying at the same time to claim it favors diversity in education."
In December 2002, the Supreme Court said that it would review two cases challenging the affirmative action programs at the University of Michigan: one, Grutter v. Bollinger, involving the law school and the other, Gratz v. Bollinger, the University's undergraduate program. Both cases raise the critical issue of whether and under what circumstances public universities can use race as one of the many factors in admissions. In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that campus diversity can be a "compelling governmental interest" that justifies reasonable, narrowly tailored affirmative action programs at universities.
In the wake of the furor over Sen. Trent Lott's comments endorsing the segregationist 1948 campaign of Sen. Strom Thurmond, LCCR sent a letter to the President asking him to demonstrate his commitment to civil rights through actions, not rhetoric. One specific request was that "the Administration file a brief with the Supreme Court defending the Michigan affirmative action programs and supporting the notion that 'diversity' can be a compelling state interest that justifies the narrowly tailored use of race in university admissions."
LCCR repeated this request January 9.
"The White House simply seems not to have learned the lesson of the Trent Lott episode," Henderson concluded. "President Bush, in letting his actions speak for themselves, has now made it perfectly clear to the country where he stands on matters of race and equality."
