The Diversity Rationale at Universities
Supreme Court Precedent From Bakke to Grutter
More than three decades after the Supreme Court ruling in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the diversity rationale for affirmative action in public education remains a topic of political and legal controversy. Many colleges and universities have implemented 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,…
