President Marshall offers strong support for affirmative action ruling

Wheaton College President Dale Rogers Marshall today expressed her strong support for the Supreme Court's decision that colleges can take race into account as one of many factors in admissions decisions. She joins national higher education leaders and 50 higher education associations supporting this powerful and positive message upholding affirmative action.

''I commend the court for not turning back the clock on affirmative action and for creating a balanced approach to a complex problem,'' Marshall said. ''This decision will strengthen our efforts to ensure access and educational opportunity for all students. It is a wise and nuanced affirmation for affirmative action within appropriate limits and against quotas.''

Marshall, author of Protest is Not Enough: The Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics and editor of Racial Politics in American Cities, cites her own research on minorities in urban politics, data that show that strong minority leadership is crucial to gaining wider minority participation in civic life. ''Those gains only come about through sustained long-term efforts to overcome hundreds of years of discrimination,'' Marshall said. ''Higher education has a responsibility to help prepare those leaders, a responsibility that has been reaffirmed in notable amicus briefs in this case by business and military leaders.''

Much like the case-by-case review of applications that the court upheld at the University of Michigan Law School, Wheaton's admission process is a model of holistic and individualized review. As a college that made SATs optional long before that practice became fashionable, Wheaton rejects any narrow definition of merit and recognizes a wide range of individual achievement and potential.

''Wheaton believes that a diverse community enhances the quality of education for all students,'' Marshall said. ''We strive to craft each entering class to include students from all parts of the country and world, from all economic, racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, and with all kinds of special talents such as artistic and athletic prowess.''

This philosophy has resulted in remarkable success since Wheaton became coeducational in 1988. In the past decade Wheaton students have won an impressive array of national awards, including a Rhodes, a British Marshall and 15 Fulbrights, and have registered great achievements in athletics, including a record five consecutive national championships in women's track.