In response to recent challenges to the University of Michigan's affirmative action policies, the University is reviewing its academic courses and programs to assess whether any are legally questionable under current affirmative action law, said Janet Dickerson, vice president for campus life.
Last week, University lawyers instructed the Woodrow Wilson School to abandon its race-conscious admission policy for a summer institute aimed at improving minority representation in public policy studies.
The review comes amid a debate about how the Supreme Court will rule in two cases that challenge the University of Michigan's race-conscious admission policies. The policies allegedly deny white applicants the equal protection guarantee of the Constitution.
"We have been examining other Princeton programs to see if any other is not likely to meet the legal test of the Michigan case," Dickerson said in an email.
Internal review
President Tilghman's 19 senior cabinet administrators have been asked to conduct a thorough inventory within their own departments for courses and programs that may be legally objectionable.
The inventory is not yet finished, but the departments that have reported back have found no problems, Tilghman said.
"We are obviously going to be vigilant," she said.
Another program that may be in jeopardy is The Daily Princetonian Summer Journalism Program, Dickerson said. The program, which began last summer, was created to introduce black and Latino high school students to journalism, a profession with little minority representation.
"We are aware of the University's concern, and we are working closely with the University to make sure that our program continues," said program organizer and former 'Prince' Editor-in-Chief Richard Just '01.
The University is also reviewing an amicus curiae brief that Harvard University will file in favor of the University of Michigan. Vice President for Public Affairs Robert Durkee '69 said the University will decide either late this week or next Monday whether Princeton will join Harvard in signing the brief.
The University of Michigan expects more than 50 briefs, signed by more than 200 organizations, to be filed in support of its admission policy by the Feb. 18 deadline. Organizations such as the Harvard University Civil Rights Project have supported the University of Michigan's side.
The Supreme Court will hear the cases — which were first filed in 1997 — in March or April and is expected to rule in June. The two cases are Gratz v. the University of Michigan and Grutter v. the University of Michigan Law School.
The undergraduate program at the University of Michigan uses a points-based admission system that gives minority students a numerical advantage for racial status. Watchdog groups have challenged the law school for establishing a percentage target of minority representation in each class.
The Supreme Court's current interpretation of affirmative action dates to 1978, when it ruled in Board of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that universities could not create a quota for minority students.
In the same case, the Court also argued that diversity, under certain circumstances, could be an important enough objective for the school to take race into consideration.
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