Interpreting Michigan.

ADMINISTRATORS WHO STAND BY DIVERSITY AS a key component of higher education have a new tool to help them establish legally defensible admissions policies.

With race- and ethnicity-based programs continuing to face public challenges, the manual, "Admissions and Diversity After Michigan" (College Board, 2006), is timely. Attorneys Arthur Coleman and Scott Palmer of the Washington, D.C., law firm of Holland & Knight penned the manual to offer guidance on developing and implementing programs that will stand up in court.

While the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with major affirmative action issues in its University of Michigan decisions of 2003, it left many specifics unaddressed. "The whole issue of diversity, which at some level could be quite a nebulous concept, needs to have some real parameters, some real facets of accountability, and some benchmarks by which you can evaluate success," says Coleman. The manual arose out of the two-year-old Access and Diversity Collaborative, which--overseen by the College Board, several associations, and 33 institutions--gathered enrollment management and legal experts in seminars across the country. "What we heard consistently and loudly was the importance of institutional leadership," says Coleman.

The guide offers clear directions to leaders who increasingly are integrating diversity into the lives of their institutions. The free manual is available at www.collegeboard.com/diversitycollaborative/background.html. A print copy costs $15.--C.M.F.