Striking down the University of Michigan's point-based system of admissions, yet upholding the holistic approach of the same university's law school, the Court's mixed-message decision had both critics and supporters of affirmative action claiming victory.
"If we had to condense matters, I'd say that the Court, in the Michigan case, left matters in the same state of moral incoherence in which it has reposed at least since the Bakke case of 1978," said Professor of Political Science Hadley Arkes.
In the 5-4 decision of Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court upheld the University of Michigan Law School's admission policy of attaining a "critical mass" of under-represented minorities-blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans.
Representation of these minorities varied from 13.5 to 20.1 percent of the entering law school classes from 1993 to 2000, nullifying the argument that the University of Michigan Law School was employing a strictly numerical approach. The Court approved of the Law School's "highly individualized, holistic review of each applicant's file," a method similar to what the College employs.
However, in Gratz v. Bollinger, concerning the undergraduate College of Literature, Science and the Arts, the Court rejected the admissions policies in a 6-3 decision. The University of Michigan's controversial method of giving any under-represented minority applicant a 20-point bonus on the universities 150-point scale, while a perfect SAT score yields 12 extra points, was determined unconstitutional, as it was automatic and without individual consideration.
Amherst College was the only other school cited in Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's majority opinion supporting the law school's practices. The College filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief along with 28 other liberal arts colleges, in support of the University of Michigan's policies. "Colleges and universities [are] free to select those students who … will … take fullest advantage of what the college has to offer, contribute most to the educational process, and use what they have learned for the benefit of the larger society," the brief said in its conclusion.
Justice O'Connor cited the College brief in her discussion of another Court decision on affirmative action, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. Though that case struck down the University of California's use of quotas, it also put forth the idea of a wider exchange of ideas on campus as an impetus for racial preference in admissions.
The brief was spearheaded by President Emeritus Tom Gerety. Attorney Charles Sims '71 of Proskauer Rose LLP. of New York wrote the brief.
The Supreme Court rulings cleared up some of the confusion that has been fostered by the federal circuit courts of appeals in the last few years. Courts had struck down affirmative action policies at the University of Texas Law School and the University of Georgia, while upholding the policies of the University of Michigan's and the University of Washington at Seattle.
But despite the clarified constitutionality of affirmative action, many states are likely to continue without it. California and Washington have passed referendums banning affirmative action and Florida has an executive order doing the same. These laws are not affected by the Court ruling.
The full effect of the Court's decisions is yet to come. In Justice O'Connor's majority opinion, she observed that it has been 25 years since racial preference in admissions was first legalized in the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case. "We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today," she wrote.
The ruling is unlikely to have an effect on the admissions policy at the College. Although the College considers racial diversity, it does not employ an official quota-based affirmative action policy. As a result, each year there is a fluctuating number of minority first-year students at the College. At the University of Michigan, the number of minority students enrolled in the freshman class was usually stable.
According to Dean of Admissions Tom Parker, the College tries to attain diversity by other methods. "We do more outreach to inner-city high schools than to smaller private schools where the Amherst name might already be known," said Parker.
The College's admission committee does consider where the applicant's parents went to school, the caliber of the high school the applicant attended and whether or not English is the primary language spoken at home.
"The verbal [SAT] score of a student is definitely affected by opportunity," said Parker. "A student whose parents both have masters degrees, are from high income backgrounds, who speak English as their primary language ... almost inevitably will do better than a student who had largely incompetent teachers at a school with an average class size of forty."
Before making any decision regarding any applicant's admission to the College, the admission committee considers each applicant's file in its entirety at least twice.
For Cally Wheeler '06, considering an applicant's entire file is important. "If a student goes to a school which provides no support for them and scores a 500 on their SAT and I score a 700 because my school provided me with academic guidance every step of the way, then their 500 is more valuable than my 700 because they did it in spite of their circumstances, not because of them," she said.
"The College is a private institution, and that still means something. If the policies of affirmative action have a deep appeal in this place ... then this institution is relatively free to enact and preserve those policies," said Arkes. "But that is again quite separate from the question of whether those policies are in principle defensible and morally coherent."
Although the admissions policy of the College will undergo no changes as a direct result of the decision, College officials continue to maintain contact with a Boston law firm to ensure that the College's policies remain in accordance with current law.
The decision is a "tremendous result," said Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science Austin Sarat "[Although] race and ethnicity do not necessarily correlate to diversity of perspective, Amherst does benefit socially and academically from a diversity of life experience that results from drawing in ethnically and racially diverse student bodies."
Some students at the College agree with the Court that the University of Michigan's point-based admission system was flawed. "All candidates should be considered on an individual basis," said Alexa Lawson-Remer '04. "Modern diversity has become a group of people who look different but think the same."