President Bush Discusses Michigan Affirmative Action Case
Remarks by the President on the Michigan Affirmative Action Case
The Roosevelt Room
4:30 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. The Supreme Court will soon hear
arguments in a case about admission policies and student diversity in
public universities. I strongly support diversity of all kinds,
including racial diversity in higher education. But the method used by
the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is
fundamentally flawed.
At their core, the Michigan policies amount to a quota system that
unfairly rewards or penalizes perspective students, based solely on
their race. So, tomorrow my administration will file a brief with the
court arguing that the University of Michigan's admissions policies,
which award students a significant number of extra points based solely
on their race, and establishes numerical targets for incoming minority
students, are unconstitutional.
Our Constitution makes it clear that people of all races must be
treated equally under the law. Yet we know that our society has not
fully achieved that ideal. Racial prejudice is a reality in America.
It hurts many of our citizens. As a nation, as a government, as
individuals, we must be vigilant in responding to prejudice wherever we
find it. Yet, as we work to address the wrong of racial prejudice, we
must not use means that create another wrong, and thus perpetuate our
divisions.
America is a diverse country, racially, economically, and
ethnically. And our institutions of higher education should reflect
our diversity. A college education should teach respect and
understanding and goodwill. And these values are strengthened when
students live and learn with people from many backgrounds. Yet quota
systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher
education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and
impossible to square with the Constitution.
In the programs under review by the Supreme Court, the University
of Michigan has established an admissions process based on race. At
the undergraduate level, African American students and some Hispanic
students and Native American students receive 20 points out of a
maximum of 150, not because of any academic achievement or life
experience, but solely because they are African American, Hispanic or
Native American.
To put this in perspective, a perfect SAT score is worth only 12
points in the Michigan system. Students who accumulate 100 points are
generally admitted, so those 20 points awarded solely based on race are
often the decisive factor.
At the law school, some minority students are admitted to meet
percentage targets while other applicants with higher grades and better
scores are passed over. This means that students are being selected or
rejected based primarily on the color of their skin. The motivation
for such an admissions policy may be very good, but its result is
discrimination and that discrimination is wrong.
Some states are using innovative ways to diversify their student
bodies. Recent history has proven that diversity can be achieved
without using quotas. Systems in California and Florida and Texas have
proven that by guaranteeing admissions to the top students from high
schools throughout the state, including low income neighborhoods,
colleges can attain broad racial diversity. In these states,
race-neutral admissions policies have resulted in levels of minority
attendance for incoming students that are close to, and in some
instances slightly surpass, those under the old race-based approach.
We should not be satisfied with the current numbers of minorities
on Americans college campuses. Much progress has been made; much more
is needed. University officials have the responsibility and the
obligation to make a serious, effective effort to reach out to students
from all walks of life, without falling back on unconstitutional
quotas. Schools should seek diversity by considering a broad range of
factors in admissions, including a student's potential and life
experiences.
Our government must work to make college more affordable for
students who come from economically disadvantaged homes. And because
we're committed to racial justice, we must make sure that America's
public schools offer a quality education to every child from every
background, which is the central purpose of the education reforms I
signed last year.
America's long experience with the segregation we have put behind
us and the racial discrimination we still struggle to overcome requires
a special effort to make real the promise of equal opportunity for
all. My administration will continue to actively promote diversity and
opportunity in every way that the law permits.