Duke backs Mich. in admissions case

In a display of support for another top university, Duke and several other top-20 universities signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday in favor of considering race in admissions.

"We felt that it was important for Duke, along with other colleges and universities, to go on record explaining why we feel diversity is important in our admissions decisions--and why that diversity should include race, among many other factors," President Nan Keohane wrote in an e-mail.

The brief supports the right of universities to use race as one factor in an admissions system administrators say is complex and individualized, and was filed in response to two cases taken up by the Supreme Court on the University of Michigan's race-based admissions system. It was filed by Harvard University, together with Yale University, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago and Duke.

"This case is enormously important for higher education and for our nation," Harvard President Lawrence Summers said in a statement. "Our brief argues that bringing together students from different backgrounds, including different racial backgrounds, has vital educational benefits for all students and better prepares them to serve as leaders in a multiracial society."

The brief joins a deluge of more than 60 so-called amicus briefs from other universities and interests. Another brief from Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Rice and Vanderbilt Universities argues that academic freedom guaranteed colleges by the First Amendment gives admissions offices leeway in setting their own admissions policies. Sixty-four Fortune 500 companies, including Banc One, Microsoft and Shell Oil, filed a similar brief.

Duke School of Law's Jim Coleman, senior associate dean for academic affairs and a former dean at Michigan, helped draft the American Bar Association's brief as well.

The Bush administration and a few conservative groups have filed similar briefs opposing the use of race in admissions. Ultimately, the court's decision will come down to the justices' interpretation of the law, not the briefs, for which the deadline was Wednesday at midnight. However, the practice of third parties filing briefs in such cases has become a staple of marquee decisions.

The court will hear the case April 1 and issue a decision later this spring or early in the summer.