April 2012
PRINCETON, NJ (February 21, 2012) — Today the Supreme Court made a long-awaited
decision to take the case Fisher v. Texas, which revisits the "diversity"
rationale for racial preferences in college admissions. The National Association
of Scholars, which signed a friend-of-the-court brief for the case, commended
the Court for agreeing to hear it.
"We
are delighted that the Supreme Court will have a new look at the way our
nation’s institutions of higher education treat race," said NAS Chairman Stephen
Balch. "The only way to usher in true racial equality in America is to end
race-based discrimination. There are many race-neutral ways of promoting equal
opportunity on our college campuses, and we urge the Court to choose these
instead."
The
New York Times October 2011 coverage of the lead-up to the case quoted
NAS president Peter Wood:
But Peter Wood, an
anthropologist, the author of "Diversity: The Invention of a Concept" and a
critic of the Grutter decision, argues that the educational value of racial
diversity is problematic. "The part of diversity that matters to me and a lot of
academics is the intellectual diversity of the classroom," he said. "The pursuit
of a genuine variety of opinions that are well thought through and well grounded
is essential. But that has an off-and-on, hit-or-miss connection with ethnic and
racial diversity."
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