Affirmative Action: Did the Supreme Court Save It?
Channel: EmorySchoolofLaw
Date: 2012-07-18

Provost Earl Lewis discussed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in 2003 that upheld the right of universities to consider race as a factor in admissions. At the time Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger entered the district courts in 1997, Lewis was a faculty member at the University of Michigan, the institution whose policies were being called into constitutional question. He described watching those cases progress and discussed what the Supreme Court's decisions might mean during his talk. One possibility was that opponents could renew their efforts to reframe the debate around affirmative action rather than diversity. Also, the specter of lawsuits could influence university budgets, possibly affecting funding for diversity programs