School of International and Public Affairs will focus its ninth annual David N. Dinkins Leadership & Public Policy Forum on affirmative action, featuring remarks by President Lee C. Bollinger, this Thursday, May 1. Fifty years after Brown vs. the Board of Education and one month after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of affirmative action in college admissions, policy leaders will gather to review the merits of diversity in higher education.

David Dinkins, Columbia's professor in the practice of public affairs, former mayor of New York City and long-time affirmative action advocate, will provide the introduction and President Bollinger will deliver the keynote address. The president is expected to discuss his involvement in the University of Michigan's landmark cases, now before the Supreme Court, and the importance of having racially and ethnically diverse student bodies in all institutions of higher learning.

"This is one of the most pivotal moments in the history of America's civil rights movement," said Dinkins. "As we await the Court's decisions on the Michigan cases, I am proud to bring together the top minds in the legal and academic world for this year's forum. We need to continue to examine the critical challenges of maintaining equal access to universities and colleges across the nation for minority and non-traditional students."

Two separate panels will review Affirmative Action and the Law and Affirmative Action and the University. Ted Shaw, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, chairs the first session, and, Neil Rudenstine, former president of Harvard University, the second.

Other panelists include Columbia Provost Jonathan Cole; Luke Charles Harris, associate professor of political science, Vassar College; Khin Mai Aung, staff attorney for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Barmak Nassirian, deputy director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers; Columbia professor of law Kimberle Williams Crenshaw; and Marvin Krislov, vice president and general counsel for the University of Michigan.
Hosted by Mayor Dinkins and sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs, the Dinkins Forum addresses pressing issues including education, environmental movements, labor and community building, welfare-to-work, urban renewal and empowerment zones.

The event will be held in the Low Rotunda, from 8:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Click for more information and registration.