The UNC system will not take a definitive stance in the recent debate over affirmative action policies in higher education, President Molly Broad said Tuesday.
Instead, Broad said, system officials will stand behind the American Council on Education, of which the UNC system is a member, when it files an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting a state's right to use affirmative action in its universities.
"We are represented in the amicus brief that will be sent on behalf of virtually all of the higher education organizations," Broad said. "They are the umbrella organization."
The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Law School is appealing a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the university's race-based admissions policy is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing the case April 1.
ACE, a Washington, D.C.-based organization representing more than 40 higher education organizations nationwide, is expected to file a brief with the court supporting the right of individual institutions to formulate their own policies on race and admissions, Broad said. She said a brief is being put together by ACE but has not yet been filed.
Amicus briefs are sent to the Supreme Court state where interested parties stand on the issue.
Officials at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law announced plans last week to file an amicus brief with the court, arguing that a diverse student body is a compelling interest in public schools, one warranting programs based on race.
Christopher Patty, general counsel for the University of California system, said the brief sent by the ACE will not necessarily represent the beliefs of all universities that are members of the organizations.
In California, for example, Proposition 209, passed by voters in 1996, prohibits public universities from taking race into account when deciding whether to accept students.
