Race Considerations in College Admissions
Court Decisions from Bakke to Grutter
Nearly a quarter century after the Supreme Court ruling in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the diversity rationale for affirmative action in public education remained a topic of political and legal controversy. Many colleges and universities established affirmative action policies, not only to remedy past discrimination but also to achieve a racially and ethnically diverse student body or faculty. Justice Powell, in his opinion for the Bakke Court, stated that the attainment of a diverse student body is “a constitutionally permissible goal for an institution of higher education,” noting that “the atmosphere of ‘speculation, experiment, and…
