Few universities have pursued racial diversity with as much vigor as the University of Michigan. It spent more than $10 million defending its affirmative action programs for undergraduate and law school applicants, challenges that were ruled on last year by the U.S. Supreme Court. University President Sue Coleman is an ardent supporter of affirmative action. And the school was among those that Blacks turned to during the Jim Crow era when universities in the South refused to enroll them because of their race. Even so, over the past four years, both the number and percentage of Black students accepted by Michigan has declined in each successive year.

According to figures made public by the university, Black freshmen enrollment at UM declined from 499 in 2001 (9 percent) to 443 in 2002 (8.5 percent), to 410 in 2003 (7.4 percent) and to 380 (5.8 percent) in 2004.

President Coleman attributes the decline this year to fewer African-Americans applying to Michigan. However, officials say they don’t know why fewer Blacks are applying to Michigan and have pledged to step up their education and outreach campaigns. A similar approach was used to attract Latinos and Native Americans to Ann Arbor; their numbers increased slightly this year.

It would be easy to surmise that the drop-off was caused, in part, by confusion over the twin Supreme Court rulings. Last year, the court upheld the UM Law School admissions process that was less numbers-oriented than the undergraduate program that was struck down. But two years prior to the eagerly-anticipated court ruling, Black enrollment figures were already headed south.

If the University of Michigan, with its enlightened leadership and willingness to stand up to Right-wing legal firms,, is having problems attracting Black applicants, what does this mean for universities that don’t exhibit a strong commitment to diversity?

Other universities report similar declines this year, especially in the enrollment of African-American males. If this becomes a trend, it could have a profound impact on our community and our families.

Though we celebrated the narrow 5-4 Supreme Court ruling upholding the concept of affirmative action, we didn’t realize that some universities, still facing threats from Right-wing think tanks and law firms, would back-peddle on affirmative action. That was a serious miscalculation.

Quietly, usually adhering to the overly cautious advice of their attorneys, major universities are eliminating or watering down programs that have successfully targeted deserving and qualified Blacks. Many of these programs have been either eliminated or opened up to women and other racial or ethnic groups, thus reducing the number of Black students who would be able to directly benefit from special attention.

All of our lives we’ve been taught the value of a college education, financial as well as personal. Education is the ticket to success and a good job, we were told repeatedly. And College Board figures confirm that lesson.

The average high school graduate earns an average of $30,800 annually. The college graduate earns approximately $19,000 more per year - $49,900 - while with those with a master’s degree earn $59,500. Over a lifetime, the person who has only graduated from high school will earn $1.4 million. Over a lifetime, a college graduate will earn $2.5 million or almost twice as much as the high school grad.

A family’s income usually determines its quality of life. If we are to advance as far as our God-given talent takes us, then access to higher education can’t be the exclusive purview of the wealthy and well-connected.

As we continue to engage in this epic battle for the soul of America, we must not be lulled into believing that the fight over affirmative action ended with the Supreme Court ruling upholding the UM Law School case. In fact, both President George W. Bush and Terry Pell, president of the conservative Center for Individual Rights, the group that brought both suits against the University of Michigan, favor what they call race-neutral programs. But many studies, including one conducted by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, show that race-neutral programs are less effective than affirmative action.

We must be mindful that while the United States Supreme Court declared that it’s lawful to operate race- and gender-conscious affirmative action programs, its ruling did not require universities or employers to operate affirmative action programs. Thus, we still have a fight on our hands to make sure that our institutions don’t destroy what a conservative Supreme Court narrowly and reluctantly upheld.