ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court decisions, University of California v. Bakke in 1978 and Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003, affirmed the importance of racial and ethnic diversity in higher education and in each case provided a diversity rationale upon which their decision was rendered. The diversity rationale on which Justice Powell’s 1978 plurality opinion was based stressed the educational benefits of diversity; that is the contribution of a variety of viewpoints to the “robust exchange of ideas” in the university setting. Viewed as “narrow” by some because it “valued racial and ethnic diversity only to the degree that it brought about a diversity of ‘experiences, outlooks, and ideas’” (Edwards 2004, p. 964), the 2003 Grutter decision, while explicitly endorsing the educational benefits of diversity as noted in Bakke, extended the diversity rationale provided in Bakke by presenting a more expansive, leadership-centered view. In particular, the decision rendered in Grutter notes that “universities, and in particular, law schools, represent the training ground for a large number of our Nation’s leaders,” and that diversity in admissions is, therefore, vital for ensuring that “all members of our heterogeneous society may participate in the educational institutions that provide the training and education necessary to succeed in America.” While focused on admissions, one may extrapolate the argument to faculty, who like students, as citizens of our Nation, can be expected to benefit from a diversity of thought and experience.
