News Briefly

Higher education administrators perked up last week when the U.S. Supreme Court decided to explore the issue of race-based admissions at colleges and universities. The two cases the court will hear come from the University of Michigan undergraduate school and the university’s law school. In those cases, white students contend that despite good grades and solid test scores, they were denied admission to the two schools and that less qualified minorities were given their slots. Were the Supreme Court to rule on the students’ behalfs, a number of Nashville higher education institutions would have to alter their admissions policies. Vanderbilt University has launched a minority recruitment effort, and the predominantly black Tennessee State University recruits whites heavily.

Get your free hot dogs

Governor-elect Phil Bredesen has announced that everyone is welcome to his inaugural ball. The big event will be free. None of this pay-party stuff for the populist Bredesen, whose plan struck many as sounding like former President Andrew Jackson’s presidential festivity in Washington in the early 19th century. Then, thousands crowded into the White House and tore up the rugs and furniture. Amid it all, Jackson is said to have escaped through a back door. Bredesen, of course, has a private jet.

Win out!

If the Tennessee Titans win their next three games, they are guaranteed a bye in their first playoff game and homefield advantage in their second. Winning out is a tall order, for Monday night the Titans play the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, who are, like the Titans, 8-5. The last two outings for quarterback Steve McNair have been nothing short of astonishing. Playing injured, he has shrugged off tacklers at will and hit an array of receivers with alarming accuracy. While Eddie George is still grinding out yardage at a less-than-hoped-for rate, the Titans defense has certainly stepped up its level of play. They couldn’t be peaking at a better time.

Remember, an election is going on

It’s Charles French vs. Adam Dread for an at-large Metro Council seat Thursday. The winner can’t do much damage—he will only serve for nine months until regularly scheduled elections.