Project 21 Press Release: Supreme Court Affirmative Action Decision; Black Network Provides Interview Sources for Comment – June 2003

The United States Supreme Court today announced its ruling on whether the University of Michigan can use race as a deciding factor in its admissions process. In a five to four decision, the justices ruled that the university, as a state-run institution, can continue to use admissions as a means of promoting racial diversity on campus in its law school.

Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are available for interviews on the decision and other issues affecting black Americans. Some Project 21 members available for comment include:

— Peter Kirsanow, a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a labor lawyer in Cleveland, Ohio.

— Horace Cooper, a former member of the Board of Visitors of the state-run George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, a lawyer and aide to the congressional leadership for over ten years.

— Donald Scoggins, a political activist in Northern Virginia whose son has been accepted to the University of Michigan9s School of Engineering for the fall quarter.

— Reginald Jones, a popular public speaker on college campuses and a former radio and television talk show host in suburban New Jersey.

— Michael King, a graduate of a historically black university (Howard University), freelance writer and Internet consultant in Atlanta, Georgia.

As a public service to provide educational information about racial set-aside programs, Project 21 also maintains the “Affirmative Action Information Center” (https://nationalcenter.org/AA.html) as an online resource. It contains commentary from a variety of perspectives and also features articles, legislation and legal information related to affirmative action policy.

Project 21 has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 507-6398 x106 or [email protected], or visit Project 21’s website at http://www.project21.org/P21Index.html.

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