Martha L. Minow is the dean of Harvard Law School. Robert C. Post is the dean of Yale Law School.
Why did we, friendly rivals as deans of great and sometimes competitive law schools, join forces to write a common brief to the U.S. Supreme Court?
Because we both believe that higher education should select the best possible students, because we both believe we can identify such students only if we are free to evaluate the individual experiences and qualifications of each applicant, and because we both believe that this requires us to understand applicants’ own characterizations of their race or ethnicity. We joined forces because the Supreme Court is to hear oral argument Wednesday in Fisher v. University of Texas, a case in which some urge the court to require institutions of higher education, such as ours, to disregard individualized considerations of race.
