Jennifer Gratz Bio

Jennifer Gratz is recognized as one of the nation’s leading figures in the battle to end racial preferences. She has appeared in numerous national and local media outlets (Dateline, Nightline, Today Show, NY Times, Washington Post, WSJ, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and many others), and served as the lead plaintiff in the most important challenge to racial preferences in a generation.

A graduate of Southgate (Mich.) Anderson High School in 1995, she was unfairly rejected admission to the University of Michigan despite placing 12th in her graduating class with a 3.8 GPA along with numerous extra curricular activities including serving as Student Council Vice President and Honor Roll Student for consecutive years.

After a lengthy investigation, spearheaded by a University of Michigan professor, it was discovered that the University was using a dual-admissions system with completely different standards depending on one’s race. Based on this information, in 1997, Gratz filed suit against the UM based on its two-track admissions grid system, which assigned higher points to some applicants because of their racial background. Gratz v. Bollinger challenged racial preferences in student admissions at UM’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LS&A).

On June 23, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the preference programs in place for the past decade at the University of Michigan's undergraduate college of LS&A. Gratz was the first successful Supreme Court challenge of a college racial preference program in more than 25 years. The Court ended the wholesale use of mechanical racial preferences in admissions but in a separate, companion case against UM’s Law School the Court inexplicably allowed the continued use of race in admissions.

Following the Supreme Court decision Gratz organized the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI). As Executive Director of the MCRI, Gratz spearheaded the effort that secured a record 500,000+ signatures to amend the Michigan constitution to end race and gender preferences. In a landslide victory the MCRI (Proposal 2) passed by a margin of 58%-42%. As the Executive Director of Proposal 2, Gratz helped make history when the people of Michigan didn't settle for state sponsored discrimination, but voted to make it unlawful for public employers, public contractors, and public education to discriminate or grant preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, skin color, sex, or national origin.

Most recently, Ms. Gratz joined Ward Connerly’s American Civil Rights Institute and American Civil Rights Coalition, as the Director of Research and the Director of State and Local Initiatives, respectively. Gratz also has taken a leadership role with Connerly’s Super-Tuesday for Equal Rights. Super-Tuesday for equal rights is a project aimed at educating the people of Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma about the problems associated with race preferences.

In February 2007, Ms. Gratz was recognized for her leadership by the American Conservative Union. The ACU awarded Gratz the prestigious Ronald Reagan award for leadership.