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” (http://www.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.

-30-



Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over 25 years, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Its members have been quoted, interviewed or published over 40,000 times since the program was created in 1992. Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated, and may be earmarked exclusively for the use of Project 21.