Educating a diverse student population is critical for the state and nation at large to maintain global competitiveness and develop future leaders, says Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler in a new report advising state college leaders on how legally to justify diversity programs.
The report, titled “Strengthening Diversity in Maryland Colleges and Universities: A Legal Roadmap,” offers Maryland’s institutions of higher education legal guidance on creating new affirmative action programs that increase minority enrollment and graduation rates. Citing landmark cases, Gansler’s report offers some clarity about how universities can continue to balance student populations to include a racial cross-section of qualified students.
“The case law on what can and what can’t be done to advance diversity is still not fully developed and is not always easy to understand,” said Gansler. “We know that education is the path to opportunity. We cannot let the fear of legal challenges impede our ability to provide educational opportunity and economic opportunity for so many of our citizens.”
The report notes recent decisions such as the 2003 landmark case, Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan’s consideration of race as part of a narrowly tailored program designed to foster educational diversity by holding that “student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions.”
