According to Lerner and Nagai, the data show that the longer students attended UM, the more they perceived racial tension on campus. Perceptions of interracial tension increased dramatically from the first to second year among all groups, but especially among whites and Asians, where it tripled. Meanwhile, friendships between students of color and white students appeared to decline during the same period, so that only half of blacks perceived "quite a bit" or "a great deal" of interracial friendships by the end of their second year at UM, down from 81 percent at the beginning of freshman year. What's more, between their first and last years at UM, white and Asian students increasingly voiced disagreement with the statement, "In the long run, a greatly increased enrollment of students of color will enhance the excellence of universities," while blacks and Hispanics were somewhat more likely to agree with the statement after attending UM for four years.
For years, universities denied that they employed racial double standards in their admissions policies. When they were caught red-handed, they argued that racial preferences were necessary to promote "diversity." When challenged to show that the government had a "compelling interest" in promoting diversity -- the legal standard required under the U.S. Constitution -- they claimed that diversity provided tangible educational benefits to all students.
Such claims are difficult to prove at best, but the University of Michigan's efforts to do so look more like intentional deceit than honest research. If questions during the recent oral arguments on the Michigan cases are any indication, a number of Supreme Court justices nonetheless seem ready to accept the university's declarations of the unalloyed benefit of discriminating against white and Asian applicants in order to admit more blacks and Hispanics.
But why should universities be taken at their word any more than other institutions that are charged with wrongdoing? Would even one Supreme Court justice accept at face value research by the tobacco industry showing the "benefits" of smoking? I doubt it. Let's hope a majority of the Supreme Court can see through the University of Michigan's subterfuge and recognize that it is never right for government to sanction racial discrimination, no matter who the victims happen to be.