Courts Threaten Academic Freedom

Arthur L. Coleman, of the Office for Civil Rights, led the first of three Brown Bag Seminars on educational policy on Thursdays at noon. Discussion centered on defining affirmative action and determining which legal avenues seemed most profitable for academic institutions seeking to admit a diverse student body without running afoul of the law.

A racially diverse group of 15, including students, Wharton and Law School professors, men and women, attended the talk.

Coleman focused his talk on how court decisions are whittling away at academic freedom. As the courts strike down admissions office affirmative action strategies for too weak a relation between the remedy and past discrimination, the courts limit discretion in admissions, traditionally the prerogative of academic institutions, Coleman said.

"A range of strategies are being used by a number of campuses," said Coleman. Some schools' affirmative action programs might use race as a factor, bumping a white candidate with a black one. Or they might use race to justify scholarships for one group of students but not another. Some might look at race in the context of other achievements and circumstances, but which circumstances and how to weight them varies from school to school.

But as the courts rejects these remedies, one by one, college admissions offices are losing their hold on their right to determine their standards for admission. "Academic freedom interests are in as much peril as affirmative action," Coleman said.

He suggested a strong legal argument to protect the right to admit students who don't meet traditional standards like the SATs might lie in diversity.

"Diversity is a sleeping giant," he said. It has not been tested in the courts as a rationale for admissions policies. But to use diversity successfully, educational institutions must show the positive impact it has on students. In short, colleges must study their own programs, proving the salutary effect diversity has on learning.

"You can't separate education soundness from the legal justification," Coleman concluded. The next Brown Bag Seminar is Oct. 2. Information and abstracts of seminars are available on the seminar Web site at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~ppm.