This book examines legal cases and related literature emerging from three academic practices: affirmative action in college admissions, the enforcement of hate speech codes, and the tenure of faculty of color. It considers these cases as cultural texts, revealing the role of courts and universities in circulating dominant discourses on race. By emphasizing the narrative aspect of these cases, the book uncovers assumptions about the judiciary process and its subjects. It argues that courts and schools are not disinterested arbiters designed to redress oppression, but rather producers of race knowledge who greatly influence what constitutes racial politics and identity. The six chapters focus on: (1) "Race and Law in the Academy: Hate Speech, Tenure, and Affirmative Action"; (2)"Discourse, Ideology, and Power: Discursive Practices in Academe and Law"; (3) "Hate Speech and the Power of Words"; (4) "Tenure and 'Intentions'"; (5) "The Stories We Tell: Law, Race, and Affirmative Action"; and (6) "Race and the Politics of the Axiomatic." Three appendixes present tenure, hate speech, and affirmative action cases. (Contains approximately 230 references.) (SM)