Mr. McGann Goes to Washington
At 10:15 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30, Amherst’s Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Matthew McGann joined a long line in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. He knew that staying in line all night offered his best chance of snagging one of several dozen seats available to the public to observe the next day’s proceedings. On the docket were oral arguments for two cases brought by an organization called Students for Fair Admissions, one against the University of North Carolina, the other against Harvard. Both question the legality of “race-conscious” admissions in higher education.
Amherst–and McGann and the College’s president, Michael A. Elliott–had already taken a public stand in support of using race as one factor among many in a holistic admissions process this summer, when the College initiated and coordinated an amicus curiae brief arguing that a racially diverse student body is a “compelling interest” of liberal arts colleges. But the case is so important to McGann that he wanted to be there in person when the lawyers–including North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park ’05, who defended UNC’s practices–made their arguments.
Getting in, though, took even longer than McGann had expected. When he finally took his seat at 1:30 p.m. the next day, he had been standing for more than 15 hours, in 50-degree temperatures, to show his and Amherst’s support of race-conscious admissions.
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