Jeffrey Lehman, Cornell president-elect, did numerous media interviews in response to President George Bush's Jan. 15 announcement that the administration was filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging that affirmative action admissions policies at the University of Michigan be declared unconstitutional. As dean of UM's Law School and a named defendant in the case that will be heard in the coming months, Lehman was interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) and appeared on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" Jan. 16.
On NPR's "Morning Edition," Lehman said Bush did not accurately describe how UM's admissions process works. "We agree that quotas are wrong ... [and] unlawful. ... We consider much more than just grades and test scores for every applicant. ... in America today it is simply not possible to have more than token levels of racial integration in a highly selective law school without paying attention to race. ... in order to prepare people to be successful in modern America, they need to be prepared to live and be effective in a racially diverse society and that happens best when they are studying on a racially integrated campus," he said.
Lehman also has been quoted about the case by the Associated Press and in the New York Daily News, Ann Arbor News, the Grand Rapids Press and Detroit News, among other news media.
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