Press Release

CONTACT: Debra Humphreys
(202) 387-3760(ext. 422)
E-mail: humphreys@aacu.org

AAC&U To Sign Amicus Brief in Support of University of Michigan; Expresses Dismay at President Bush's Position

Washington, DC—January 17, 2003—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today that it will join with other higher education organizations in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the University of Michigan, as it did at the trial and appellate levels. AAC&U's long-standing support for affirmative action stems from the well-documented educational benefits of racial/ethnic diversity in higher education. By considering race as one factor among many in its admissions process, the University of Michigan has devised a reasonable, narrowly tailored policy that achieves both fairness and diversity.

AAC&U also expressed its support for the University of Michigan in a letter sent to President Bush on January 17, 2003, in which it urged him to support affirmative action policies and exercise moral leadership on this important national issue. In that letter, AAC&U's president Carol Geary Schneider and its board chair, Troy Duster, urged the President to support the University and “do [his] part to ensure that the doors of opportunity stay open to all Americans.”

AAC&U expressed deep regret today that the President instead chose to oppose affirmative action in college admissions. “The President missed a valuable opportunity today to help the nation continue to move forward on civil rights and equal opportunity. He also appears to be seriously misinformed about how the University of Michigan's admissions process actually works,” said AAC&U president Carol Geary Schneider. “Like almost all highly selective institutions, the University of Michigan considers multiple factors for every student who applies for admission. There is nothing resembling a quota system here, as the President suggested in his remarks last week.”

AAC&U has long supported affirmative action policies and has sponsored many publications and initiatives designed to assist campuses in advancing campus diversity and the benefits that accrue from it for all students. AAC&U also recently reaffirmed the Association's commitment in an official statement on “Affirmative Action, Educational Excellence, and Higher Education's Civic Mission,” passed unanimously by the Board in October, 2002. In that statement, the Association argued that, “higher education can do its best work when it embraces the diversity of ideas and experiences that characterize the social, cultural, and intellectual world. […] The Association applauds the fact that through affirmative action policies and other creative strategies, colleges today are more diverse than ever in our nation's history."

Upon approval of the statement by the board, President Schneider remarked, "In issuing this reaffirmation of commitment, we hope to draw attention not only to enduring American values of opportunity, equality, and justice, but also to persuasive new research that suggests that engaging diversity on campus and in the curriculum promotes intellectual development, enhances critical thinking, reduces prejudice, and improves intergroup relations."

AAC&U Board chair, Troy Duster noted further that, “with affirmative action under attack in several states, we are already seeing a dramatic racial and ethnic resegregation of many elite college campuses. Without policies that encourage diverse student bodies and ensure access to the nation's most historically underrepresented and excluded groups, top institutions will continue to become less and less representative of the nation. If the Supreme Court does not reaffirm the compelling national interest in diversity and rule in favor of the University of Michigan's affirmative action policies, we will surely lose what we now recognize as a key to educational excellence for all students.”

To see a copy of AAC&U's Statement on Affirmative Action, Educational Excellence, and Higher Education's Civic Mission, see www.aacu.org/About/affirmativeaction.cfm.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.