On Tuesday, June 17, 2008, Carol M. Allen  discussed her forthcoming book, Ending Racial Preferences: The Michigan Story, at The Lincoln Institute Breakfast Forum.  Joining her were William B. Allen and Barbara J. Grutter.  Together, these three individuals founded the non-profit organization, Toward A Fair Michigan, in order to create a civil and civic forum for the discussion of affirmative action preferences. They spoke about the need to create such forums in which a fair and honest exchange of views on controversial topics can be accomplished in the spirit of active citizen involvement in our democratic republic — using the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative as an example.

Speaker Biographies

Carol M. Allen, MLS, is a research specialist in the department of political science at Michigan State University. She also works in a volunteer capacity as the Program Director for Toward A Fair Michigan, a non-profit educational organization whose purpose is to provide a civic forum for a fair and open discussion of affirmative action preferences.

Previously, she worked as a policy analyst at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and as Associate University Librarian at the University of Virginia. Ms Allen has published articles on higher education, literacy, cooperative library collections development, and library systems implementation. She is the author of Ending Racial Preferences: The Michigan Story (Lexington, 2008) and co-author, with W. B. Allen, of Habits of Mind: Fostering Access and Excellence in Higher Education (Transaction Publishers, 2003).

William B. Allen, Ph.D., is Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. His pending study, Re-Thinking Uncle Tom: The Political Philosophy of H. B. Stowe, should appear in the coming year. He has served as a member of the National Council for the Humanities and as member and chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Toward A Fair Michigan.

Barbara J. Grutter is a healthcare information technology consultant and was lead plaintiff in the 1997 filing of the race preference lawsuit Grutter v Bollinger et al. Regularly featured in both local and national media throughout the lawsuit, Ms Grutter continues to participate in discussions on the issue and serves as the President and Treasurer of Toward A Fair Michigan.
 

Pictures of the June 2008 Lincoln Institute
Breakfast Forum Featuring Carol M. Allen

Roger Ream, The Fund for American Studies, delivers the invocation.	Carol Allen addresses the gathering.	Bill Allen answers a query.	Barbara Grutter answers questions from the guests.
David Bufkin asks a question (Roger Ream-R and Star Parker-L).	Bill Allen, Carol Allen, Brabara Grutter and Jay Parker	Jay Parker and Charles James	Robert Traynham and Jay Parker
Bill Allen and Dewey Parker	Robert Borens and Staci Johnson	Bill Allen, Carol and Dewey Parker (husband of Judge Janice Rogers Brown)	Bill Allen and Charles James
Terry Scanlon, Jay Parker and Ivan Osorio	Norman Bailey and Allan Brownfeld	Bill Allen and Norman Bailey	Bill Allen (William Barclay Allen, Ph.D.) and Davon Gray
Staci Johnson, Barbara Grutter and Allan Brownfeld	Barbara Grutter and Star Parker