Fisher v. University of Texas (on behalf of the Civil Rights Clinic)

14ernment can be subtle and yet powerful sources<strong>of</strong> improved understanding and personal growth.Id.; see also id. at 314 (“An otherwise qualified medicalstudent with a particular background – whetherit be ethnic, geographic, culturally advantaged ordisadvantaged – may bring to a pr<strong>of</strong>essional school . . .outlooks, and ideas that enrich the training <strong>of</strong> itsstudent body and better equip its graduates to renderwith understanding their vital service to humanity.”).Accordingly, the consideration <strong>of</strong> race not only benefitsminorities, but all students. As important asthese interests are with regards to legal education,there is even “greater force to these views at theundergraduate level . . . ” Bakke, 438 U.S. at 313(opinion <strong>of</strong> Powell, J.).Finally, the Court recognized that a diverse studentbody is important for the message it sends to thepublic regarding the institution’s legitimacy:In order to cultivate a set <strong>of</strong> leaders with legitimacyin the eyes <strong>of</strong> the citizenry, it is necessarythat the path to leadership be visibly open totalented and qualified individuals <strong>of</strong> every raceand ethnicity. All members <strong>of</strong> our heterogeneoussociety must have confidence in the openness andintegrity <strong>of</strong> the educational institutions[.]Grutter, 539 U.S. at 332-33 (internal citations andquotation marks omitted) (quoting Sweatt v. Painter,339 U.S. 629, 634 (1950)).