The Fisher ruling & Grutter's "Critical Mass" Mess (RHSU Flashback)
by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 1, 2013 at 9:18 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
Cross-posted from Education Week
Last Monday, in its Fisher decision, the Supreme Court basically decided to let stand its 2003 Grutterdecision in favor of race-conscious admissions. The only significant development in one of Justice Anthony Kennedy's familiar "split-the-difference" decisions was the insistence that colleges and universities apply "strict scrutiny" when justifying race-based admissions plans. As I noted on Tuesday, this is going to complicate lives for institutions and admissions officers, and should force them to think more deeply about when and why to count race. You've already seen some of this start to play out, as in this helpful Inside Higher Ed story.
The bigger picture, though, is that nothing much changes from Grutter. That made me think it worth revisiting a column I penned a decade ago, explaining why Grutter's rationale was so problematic. For better or worse, I think time has shown this July 2003 column to be fairly prescient. Here it is, word-for-word, as it first ran:
Two weeks have passed since the Supreme Court handed down its momentous decision on the Michigan
