In its much-anticipated review of affirmative action, the Supreme Court upheld the educational importance of diversity. Amid great controversy, confusion, and debate, the U.S. Supreme Court this June issued its much-anticipated decisions in two University of Michigan cases addressing affirmative action in higher education admissions. The Court was faced with deciding (a) whether the educational benefits of diversity, and the need to defer to educators on educational judgments, constituted a sufficiently compelling state interest to justify racial preferences in admissions, and (b) if so, how such admissions plans could be constitutionally structured. It concluded that diversity could be such an interest, and that plans must be individual and not mechanistic. Finding the best means to institute diversity will remain a challenge for higher education. (Contains 5 notes.)