Jeffrey S. Lehman
November 6, 2003
Twenty
years ago, when I was a law clerk at the Supreme Court, I had the privilege of
enjoying several conversations with Justice Thurgood Marshall. In those conversations, Justice
Marshall gave me the precious gift of ideas – ideas about patience and
persistence that I have quoted in my speaking and writing as a dean and as a
president. For me to find myself
standing here tonight, being honored in this way by the Fund, before all of
you, and most especially before Mrs. Marshall, is a moment that I will treasure
for the rest of my life.
I
am profoundly grateful to hundreds of people who invested hundreds of thousands
of hours to work with us to defend our policy, and I want to single out a few
in addition to those being honored tonight:
I
want to recognize the students at the University of Michigan Law School who, on
the day after the trial judge ruled against us, spontaneously joined together,
lifted every voice, and proclaimed publicly that they had a compelling interest
in living and studying at a racially integrated law school.
I
want to recognize the faculty and senior administrators of the Law School who
never flinched in the face of the attacks on our academic integrity and never
questioned the appropriateness of our decision to press forward with a full and
public defense of our policy.
I
want to recognize the two exceptionally gifted attorneys who led our outside legal
team:
John
Payton, for his skill and devotion to the project of assembling a court record
that powerfully demonstrated the intellectual and legal basis for our
admissions policy.
And
Maureen Mahoney, for her skill in showing the Supreme Court the good faith with
which we implemented that policy.
And
I want to recognize my wife Kathy, whose friendship and encouragement supported
me from the day that the plaintiffs first charged that we were acting
inappropriately right through the day that the Supreme Court affirmed our
position as law abiding representatives of mainstream America.
We
need affirmative action in higher education today because we need to continue
to build a just and integrated society.
We have made enormous progress in that struggle. But that progress does not come without
effort. In America today we must
continue to act affirmatively in order to keep moving forward.
Through
this litigation we successfully defended our ability to employ affirmative
action to ensure meaningful integration at our colleges and universities. But we have much more left to do. We must complete the journey towards
becoming a society where affirmative action is unnecessary.
What
does that mean? That means
becoming a society where residential segregation, school isolation,
socioeconomic disadvantage, and crippling racial stereotypes are things of the
past. It means becoming a society
where genuine opportunity within an open and integrated community is the true
birthright of every child.
The efforts of the past six years constituted another important step on that journey. The remaining steps will be every bit as difficult. Inspired by the legacy of Justice Marshall, I know that we can take those steps together and complete that journey, speedily, in our days.
