The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ("MCRI") amended the Michigan Constitution to provide that public universities, colleges, and school districts may not "discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of . . . public education." We argue that, in addition to prohibiting the overt use of racial preferences in admissions, the MCRI also prohibits using racial proxies such as socioeconomic status or a "Ten Percent Plan" that aim to prefer minorities in admissions.

The University of Michigan has long been a place of important discussions about civil and human rights. On the steps of the Michigan Student Union, only a few paces from the Law School , lies an inconspicuous marker where then-President John F. Kennedy, Jr. dedicated the United States Peace Corps. During the Vietnam War, the University played host to significant protests that changed how we think about war and its consequences.

The ballots have barely been counted, but litigation to enjoin implementation of the now-codified Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ("MCRI") or at least limit its effect on admissions practices in Michigan 's universities is already underway. One of the primary arguments against the MCRI—and the basis upon which some plaintiff professors assert standing—is that students will suffer an impaired education if current admissions practices are discarded.

With the passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ("MCRI"), Michigan joins California and Washington to constitute the new post-affirmative action frontier. For proponents such as Ward Connerly, affirmative action is on the edge of extinction. Connerly plans to carry his campaign against what he calls "racial preferences" to eight states in 2008, scoring a decisive Super-Tuesday repudiation of a social policy that he portrays as the contemporary face of racial discrimination.

The underlying principle of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), adopted by state wide vote on 7 November 2006, is identical to that of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.