CWRU has joined more than 300 organizations representing academia, major corporations and labor unions who—in more than 60 legal briefs—are defending affirmative action polices at the University of Michigan.

Among the more than 60 "friend-of-the-court" briefs—including briefs by some of the nation's top military officials, several state attorneys general and members of Congress—filed in support of Michigan is one on behalf of nearly 40 private universities and colleges, including CWRU.

The brief on which CWRU is a signatory partner does not focus on specific programs but instead endorses the larger concept of affirmative action. It argues that diversity continues to be a compelling interest that justifies the use of race as one factor among many in college and university admissions. The brief states that "a racially diverse student body serves and enriches the higher education of all students and is essential to the training of leaders for our pluralistic world."

"Our position stems from our commitment that universities, especially research universities, must be places that value the richness that diverse views, thoughts, opinions, experiences, backgrounds and cultures bring to intellectual debate and discovery," said President Edward M. Hundert. "We must also provide both the opportunity and safe environment for diversity to be expressed. To educate our students according to these same values requires that we strive to provide a more diverse environment here at CWRU, something that we have not yet fully accomplished.

"A ruling in this particular case that would limit our ability to consider race one of the factors for inviting people to our scholarly community would also limit our ability to provide all of our students and faculty with that essential, diverse environment," Hundert added.

The Supreme Court has taken up two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Michigan's race-conscious admission policies-one involving its law school and the other its undergraduate College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

Earlier this year the Bush administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court opposing Michigan's affirmative action policies. A total of about 15 briefs have been filed in favor of the plaintiffs.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in April and to render decisions in each of the two cases in June or July. Though Michigan is a public university, the court's decision also will affect private universities.

The brief also takes issue with the suggestions of some that diversity can be accomplished by using so-called "race-neutral" means, noting that those may work for large public universities but fail for highly selective private universities. The brief notes that "race neutral percentage" plans used in Texas, California and Florida depend upon segregated high schools to achieve diversity in the public universities of those states.

The brief states that the private, selective colleges and universities party to the brief have "learned that admissions based on racially 'neutral' factors alone—like socioeconomic status or geographic origin—almost always fail to produce meaningful racial diversity."

In addition to CWRU, the brief was filed on behalf of fellow University Athletic Association members Carnegie Mellon, Brandeis, Emory and New York University, among others.