Faced with pending litigation for two anti-affirmative action lawsuits and charged with reverse discrimination, the University of Michigan leadership and the campus community found itself in the middle of a national debate and an on-going social struggle over the use of race in college admissions. The aim of this study was to examine the University of Michigan case in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the institution's response to a social conflict that challenged its conception of race, educational access, and organizational mission. Hence, this research sought to answer one guiding question: how does the University of Michigan case study inform our understanding of the social conflict process?