By Dr. David J. Siegel

When we think about the diversity movement of the last 50 years or so, a few defining moments come immediately to mind. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery bus boycott and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech are among the strongest images. But countless other people, events and gestures have marked important milestones on the road to racial justice in this country. Wouldn’t it be something if history were to record another addition to this vaunted list: the Fortune 500?

At first thought, the Fortune 500 might seem an unlikely addition to such a distinguished pantheon of activists, agitators and civil rights pioneers. But when we consider the role played by key multinational corporations that backed the University of Michigan in its fight to continue using race as a factor in admissions, it appears that their own brand of activism might well have been a catalyst of untold proportions.

The first amicus brief was submitted by a coalition of 20 leading corporations on Oct. 16, 2000. By the time Michigan’s case, Grutter v. Bollinger, went to the Supreme Court in early 2003, 65 Fortune 500 companies had filed amicus briefs supporting the use of race as a factor in admissions. Ultimately, their persuasive case for diversity may have helped make the difference, both at the Supreme Court and in the wider court of public opinion. One wonders how differently things might have gone for the University of Michigan (and the rest of higher education) if industry hadn’t gone to the mat for affirmative action.  Without its powerful endorsement, the outcome might have been decidedly less genial to our diversity efforts. 

There is certainly more work to be done in collaboration with the private sector on the diversity front. But as colleges and universities join forces with an ever-expanding array of partners to work together on diversity-related issues, there is always the risk that we will become too sensitized to the needs and preferences of external stakeholders rather than the dictates of our own educational priorities. As this movement toward the practical value of diversity gathers steam, we should be careful to preserve a space in the discourse where the moral imperative of diversity — not just the strategic imperative —  still has its say.