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Howard Hails High Court Decision

By Kerry-Ann Hamilton
Black College Wire

The Hilltop Some 3,000 Howard University students participated in the "Black Tuesday" march to the Supreme Court on April 1, when it heard the Michigan cases.

Howard University officially applauded the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to defer to the University of Michigan Law School’s “educational judgment that such diversity is essential to its educational mission,” as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her opinion Monday upholding the law school’s affirmative action program.

Law School Dean Kurt Schmoke said in a statement: “Howard University is especially heartened by the Court’s emphasis on the fact that, at this time our history, affirmative steps must continue to be taken to combat vestiges of past discrimination to ensure equality and opportunity to all.

“This decision will ensure that young people of color can retain their aspiration for leadership through quality education and professional training,” continued the former Baltimore mayor.

O’Connor wrote that “our conclusion that the Law School has a compelling interest in a diverse student body is informed by our view that attaining a diverse student body is at the heart of the Law School's proper institutional mission.”

She added that to be consistent with the constitutional guarantee of equal treatment for all, "race-conscious admissions must be limited in time. . . . We expect that 25 years from now the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary."

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s sole African American member, strongly opposed the use of race a criterion in admission.

“I believe blacks can achieve in every avenue of American life without the meddling of university administrators," he said. But, added the Yale Law School graduate, “The Constitution does not, however, tolerate institutional devotion to the status quo in admissions policies when such devotion ripens into racial discrimination.”

Robin Konrad, a class of 2003 graduate of Howard Law School, filed a friend of the court brief in support of the University of Michigan, along with three classmates: Nadine Jones Francis, Danielle Conley and Hillary Browne.

Konrad said she was pleased with the outcome, but had reservations.

USPS Howard Law School Dean Kurt Schmoke, left, holds up poster of postage stamp honoring the law school's most famous alumnus, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, in January.

“The decision on the surface is good; however, there is much room to chip away at its core,” Konrad said. “By putting a time line of 25 years for affirmative action, there is an assumption that race will no longer matter in America in 2028, which is unrealistic.”

Konrad said she was not surprised by the decision in the undergraduate admission case, which the court rejected, 6-3, as too mechanistic. The university used a point system to give admissions points to members of “underrepresented groups” as well as to athletes, students from certain parts of the country and children of alumni. That clearly showed preferential treatment to the minorities resembling a quota, said Konrad, who is preparing for the bar.

Approximately 3,000 Howard students participated in the “Black Tuesday” march to the Supreme Court on April 1, the day the court heard the cases.

Irene Schwoeffermann, the 2002-2003 Howard University Student Association director of political action, was one of the chief organizers of the overnight rally on the Supreme Court steps.

The senior political science major maintains that affirmative action is not the best remedy for disparities in minority representation, but is one option until another is found.

“There will be many more attacks on affirmative action programs and policies in the future that we must be continue to battle,” she added.

Thurgood Marshall, the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court, was an alumnus of the Howard University Law School.

The text of the Supreme Court’s decisions are at http://www.supremecourtsus.gov.

Kerry-Ann Hamilton is a recent graduate of Howard University and former editor of The Hilltop.

Posted June 24, 2003