Regents of the University of California v. Bakke: An Academic Issue, a Civil Rights Defeat

Derrick Bell was a distinguished civil rights lawyer and legal scholar who was a founder of critical race theory. He made national news when he took an unpaid leave from the Harvard Law School stating that he would not return until it hired an African American female faculty member. Bell also served as dean of the law school at the University of Oregon and as a visiting professor at New York University until his untimely death on October 5, 2011, only a few months after he wrote this entry for the Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education. [Page 1783]Long before the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in 1978, it was obvious to lawyers and the public that the Regents of the University of California ...