NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) Welcomes New Federal Guidance on Diversity in K-12 and Higher Education
Posted By The Editors | December 2nd, 2011 | Category: Education | No Comments »
Print This PostToday the United States Department of Education and the Department of Justice issued policy guidance that provides greater clarity and encouragement to school districts and higher education institutions as they seek to explore available options for promoting and maintaining meaningful diversity. Released in two parts —one for K-12 school districts and the other for higher education institutions — the guidance provides concrete and creative examples of programs that comply with constitutional mandates in the Supreme Court’s decisions in two recent cases, Grutter v.Bollinger (2003) and Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007).
Significantly, as the new guidance recognizes, a majority of the Supreme Court Justices in those two cases held that educational diversity and avoiding racial isolation are not only compelling governmental interests but also among our country’s highest priorities. Integrated schools and diverse universities are essential to the fabric of our democracy because they provide all children with the skills necessary to participate meaningfully in our nation’s civic life and to flourish in our globalizing workplaces.
“LDF welcomes the new guidance as an important re-affirmation of the federal government’s commitment to the vital work of redeeming the promise of Brown v.
