FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Liz Carey

212-423-9237 ext. 165

Anti Affirmative Action Suits Product of Long Campaign by

Right-Wing Legal Groups—New IDS Study Exposes Campaign to

Roll Back Diversity

New York, N.Y. (December 2, 2002) — With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, announced today, to hear the Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger anti-affirmative action suits against the University of Michigan, efforts to remedy historic discrimination and promote diversity are likely to face their greatest challenge yet.

The Assault on Diversity: An Organized Challenge to Racial and Gender Justice, a new book by the Institute for Democracy Studies, chronicles the Right’s challenge to diversity.

“It is critical for the American people to understand the enormity of the threat that this movement poses to our fundamental values,” said IDS President Alfred Ross.

In 2001, USA Today found that 56 percent of Americans said they supported affirmative action policies, up from 49 percent in 1995. Still, an array of forces threatens them.

“The burning crosses and angry mobs are gone. In their stead are high-profile attorneys and well-financed organizations. But the intent is very much the same: to deny the full benefits of America to some segments of our society,” observes Judge Harold R. Tyler, Jr., in the book’s introduction.

“This movement not only challenges the means to achieve a diverse society but the very goal of diversity itself. The Center for Individual Rights has waged a long campaign to undermine mainstream, consensus policies on fairness and diversity in institutions of higher education,” author Lee Cokorinos said.

In the book’s foreword, Theodore M. Shaw, associate director-counsel for the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, describes the “growth of an ultra-conservative network” that is “more organized, better funded, and more deliberate” than 20 years ago.

The Assault on Diversity profiles major players in the anti-diversity movement, including the Center for Individual Rights, the Institute for Justice, the Federalist Society Civil Rights Practice Group, and the Bush legal team.

About IDS

IDS is a not-for-profit educational center that investigates anti-democratic movements challenging mainstream values such as an independent judiciary, the separation of church and state, and reproductive freedom.

About the Author

Lee Cokorinos is the Institute’s research director and coordinates its programs in law, reproductive rights, and religion.

The Assault on Diversity will be available through Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in early 2003.

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