The UM defended its affirmative action program on the grounds that diversity of the student body presented an educational benefit to all, and that this benefit outweighed the unfairness involved in factoring a student's race in the admissions decisions.
Yet, when a conservative state congressman recently raised questions about the lack of political diversity on the mostly liberal UM campus, president Mary Sue Coleman responded to the effect that it would be unconstitutional to ask people their political beliefs on the application.
It seems to me that whatever portion of the Constitution Coleman is referring to here is at least as explicit about prohibiting the use of race in the admissions process.
I've even heard administrators around here speak about individual students as being 'diverse'--not because that particular student is proficient in a range of skills, etc., but solely because that student is a member of an underrepresented minority.