What: On April 1, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on two affirmative action cases involving the University of Michigan. Both cases involve white applicants, one to the undergraduate program and one to the law school, who claim they were denied admission while less-qualified minority students were admitted to promote diversity.
Who: Faye J. Crosby, an expert on affirmative action in education and employment, has debated the merits of affirmative action with UC Regent Ward Connerly. She is the author of the forthcoming Yale University Press book, "Affirmative Action is Dead: Long Live Affirmative Action," and coeditor of Sex, Race, & Merit: Debating Affirmative Action in Education and Employment.
Thomas Pettigrew, a social psychologist and leading scholar on prejudice, has compiled powerful evidence of the value of policies that encourage diversity. Pettigrew's just-completed meta-analysis of more than 500 studies of intergroup contact confirms that contact significantly reduces prejudice, a finding that holds for members of different gender, racial, and ethnic groups. For more information on that study, visit http://currents.ucsc.edu/02-03/03-10/prejudice.html
Crosby and Pettigrew are available to assist journalists with their coverage of the Supreme Court case and to discuss affirmative action generally.
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