This document records testimony from a hearing held to examine how SCOTUS's decision on race-based admissions is shaping university policies. Member statements were presented by: (1) Honorable Burgess Owens, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development; and (2) Honorable Robert C. Scott, Ranking Member, Committee on Education and the…

The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice issued this guidance to explain how, consistent with existing law, postsecondary institutions can voluntarily consider race to further the compelling interest of achieving diversity. It replaces the August 28, 2008 letter issued by ED's Office for Civil…

A case involving an African-American teacher's complaint about a (reassigned) building engineer's abusive and racist language went nowhere. Apparently, the mere use of foul language does not establish a Title VII claim; the custodian's sporadic comments did not create a sufficiently "hostile work environment." (MLH)

Discusses the legal problems with racial and ethnic preferences in college admissions processes noting that there are only three possible goals that are legally "compelling" for the use of preferences: prophylactically to avoid discriminating, as remedial discrimination to make up for past discrimination, and to foster student diversity. (DB)

Charter schools are public schools that have been provided significant release from the rules and regulations that govern traditional public schools and that are held accountable by a chartering authority. The ultimate hope of charter school advocates is that charter schools will be able to cut through red tape, offer innovative educational…

This is the eighth report by the Committee on Government Operations in the aftermath of the U.S. Department of Education's (DOE's) December 1990 attempt to ban race-specific scholarships, now called the Fiesta Bowl Fiasco. Based on a study by the Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, this report finds the following: (1)…

In a test of affirmative-action policies, a white teacher, Sharon Taxman, filed reverse discrimination charges when her downsizing district terminated her and kept a black teacher of nearly identical qualifications. The case was settled out of court. If the U.S. Supreme Court had heard the case under either the Equal Protection or Title VII…

This legal document examines whether the University of Michigan Law School's use of racial preferences in student admissions violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et. seq.), or 42 U.S.C. 1981. This brief filed by the federal government in support of the…

This legal document addresses whether the Court should reaffirm its decision in Regents of University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978), holding that the educational benefits which flow from a diverse student body to an institution of higher education, its students, and the public it serves are sufficiently compelling to permit the…

In this litigation, parents of elementary school students in Lynn, Massachusetts, challenge their city's school assignment plan, the Lynn Plan, because it takes race into account in permitting children to transfer from their neighborhood schools to other schools within the district. Since implementation of the Lynn Plan entitles the Lynn Public…

This legal document addresses whether the Court should reaffirm its decision in Regents of University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978), holding that the educational benefits which flow from a diverse student body to an institution of higher education, its students, and the public it serves are sufficiently compelling to permit the…

This legal document presents the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case brought against the University of Michigan's use of racial preferences in undergraduate admissions. In Gratz et al. v. Bollinger et al., the Court held that while race is one of a number of factors that can be considered in undergraduate admissions, the automatic…

This legal document presents the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the affirmative action case brought against the University of Michigan's Law School. On June 23, 2003, the Court held in Grutter v. Bollinger et al. that diversity is a compelling interest in higher education and that race is one of a number of factors that can be taken into…

In reviewing statistics of the racial patterns in the recent history of the Cleveland public school system, as well as all of the evidence included in the voluminous record in this case, the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio sought an answer to a single question of constitutional law: to what extent, if any, were the defendants in…