The future of affirmative action will revolve around academic freedom, said speakers at an MSU-DCL College of Law forum Monday night.
MSU-DCL professor Kevin Saunders and attorney Richard McLellan, a member of the Dykema Gosset PLLC law firm, said the Supreme Court's decisions on affirmative action will have many effects.
The two said the decision will lead to more lawsuits and litigation regarding the constitutionality of issues such as race-based scholarships and religion-based acceptance.
"We have this decision, now what do we do with it?" McLellan asked.
"A lot more is to be said, which will lead to many more arguments and litigation."
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right for colleges and universities across the nation to allow race to be a factor in deciding admissions.
The court ruled 5-4 to support the University of Michigan Law School's admissions policy, which evaluates all applicants on a case-by-case basis.
But in a separate affirmative action case heard by the high court, a 6-3 vote struck down U-M's undergraduate policy, which included race as a factor when assigning points from a 150-point scale to applicants.
Saunders said people have a fear of being judged by a number system and would rather take their chances with a case-by-case judgment.
"A formula offends people more," Saunders said.
"They feel they are better off with a subjective admissions counselor."
MSU-DCL student Ryann Embury said he thinks the court's decision to uphold affirmative action will differ when Supreme Court justices change.
"With possible shifts in justices, this case may not stand for more than 10 more years," Embury said.
McLellan, who attended the oral arguments presented before the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., said there was strong corporate support of affirmative action.
He said businesses wrote to the Supreme Court asking them to uphold U-M policies. McLellan said diversity was as important in the workplace as it is in college.
"Affirmative action is for the benefit of society, not just minorities," he said.
