WWS drops race factor in program
The University discontinued a race-based summer program at the Wilson School yesterday because its admission policy could not be defended in court, Vice President for Communications Robert Durkee '69 said."If you are committed to diversity, what you don't want to do is to defend a program that would put [diversity] at risk," Durkee said of the decision not to wait until a legal challenge arises.No suit has been filed against what University officials called a "successful" program, he added.For 18 years the Woodrow Wilson School Junior Summer Institute has hosted only minority undergraduate students outside the University in the hopes of encouraging graduate study in public and international affairs.Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 said about half of the minority graduate students in the school participated in the summer program.The program may continue, but the minority-only admission policy has been dropped, Durkee said.The decision comes amid the growing debate on how the Supreme Court will rule in two cases that challenge the race-conscious admission policies at the University of Michigan.