It would seem so. University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman has reacted to the voter-approved Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which bans race-based preferences in that state’s public colleges and state agencies. Here’s what she said in a statement:
“We defended affirmative action all the way to the Supreme Court
because diversity is essential to our mission as educators. I am determined to do whatever it takes to sustain our
excellence by recruiting and retaining a diverse community of students,
faculty and staff.”
Sounds like she’s willing to break the law ? or finagle her way around it ? to preserve race preferences. This isn’t the first time a college president has said “Fie on the courts!” North Carolina’s own James Moeser did the same on Aug. 27, 2002 when he appeared before the National Press Club to discuss the Approaching the Qur’an summer-reading selection.
In a statement that got absolutely no news play at all (I was watching C-SPAN and just happened to see it), Moeser said if the federal courts ruled against the selection of the book he would defy them and use the book anyway. I can’t find the transcript of that appearance, but here’s how Moeser characterized his defiance of the courts in “Internationalizing the Campus 2004,” (PDF, page 52) a publication of the Association of International Educators:
The federal courts rejected a lawsuit against the reading program, which Moeser vigorously defended in an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Looking back, he calls it “one of our proudest chapters.”
Interestingly, this account does not mention his announcement that he would defy the courts if necessary. Why wouldn’t that be part of Moeser’s “proud chapter”?
