Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings today (Feb. 14) announced that Cornell has joined with four other leading private universities in submitting an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School. Those universities are Columbia, Georgetown, Rice and Vanderbilt.

Rawlings noted that in 1868 the university's founder, Ezra Cornell, made clear his commitment to diversity when he wrote: "I would found an institution where any person (emphasis added) can find instruction in any study."

"That vision of a diverse student body is no less important today," said Rawlings, "and it informs our strong support of affirmative action not only at Cornell but at other institutions of higher education across the nation."

The brief filed by the five institutions does not repeat all of the arguments that have been addressed in the briefs of the parties to the case and the other "friends of the court." Rather, it notes, "In the course of the wrenching legal and public policy debate about university admission policies that take account of race to some degree or other, little has been said about the First Amendment rights of the universities themselves." The brief urges that a university's constitutionally based academic freedom interests can be accommodated and the equal protection interests of the plaintiffs still vindicated by giving "a high degree of deference to a university's good-faith determination as to how to further its academic mission."

Lead counsel for the amici is Floyd Abrams of the firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York City. Questions from the media concerning the arguments in the brief should be addressed to Mr. Abrams. His telephone number is (212) 701-3000.

Working closely with Abrams and the chief counsels of the other participating institutions in developing the brief was James J. Mingle, university counsel at Cornell.