Harvard will not file a statement of its own views with the Court as it did in Bakke, but the University's professors, publications and president are cited repeatedly in the ACE brief.

Among the items listed in the brief's bibliography are President Neil L. Rudenstine's Annual Report of 1995; an article authored by Rudenstine that was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education in 1996; and an advertisement by the Association of American Universities, which Rudenstine orchestrated, published in The New York Times in April.

Rudenstine said in a recent interview that it would be inappropriate for the Court to rule broadly in this case.

"The situation is so special-so particular...it would be unfortunate if on this particular case they made a general ruling that affected all of education," he said.

In particular, Rudenstine points out that the case deals with firing in a secondary, public school-not with admissions policies of private colleges.

Since 1995, Rudenstine has called for more research to quantify the advantages of diversity, and at a conference at Harvard last spring a number of nationally-recognized attorneys told participants that the current research on diversity is not substantial enough to withstand a court's scrutiny.

Still the ACE brief-making the best case that it can-cites "concrete findings" that diversity has positive effects.

"There is some evidence, but it's not what we would like to have," said Gary A. Orfield, professor of education and social policy. "The research is very weak in terms of its range and depth compared with the research on school desegregation."

Orfield organized the conference at Harvard last April, the goal of which was to set a research agenda to prove what educators have felt to be true for years: that diversity improves education. He says more studies are on their way.

Whether they will arrive in time remains to be seen.

"I think this could be, if not in the next 12 months, than in the next 18 to 24 months, a genuine watershed moment in terms of the kind of criteria universities and colleges have traditionally been able to apply in admissions and hiring," Rudenstine said