News
July 21, 2023
SCOTUS Strikes Down Affirmative Action in Higher Education
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful for colleges and universities to take race into consideration as a standalone factor when making admissions decisions. Chief Justice John Roberts stressed that institutions of higher learning can still consider an applicant’s race and heritage as long it is “concretely tied” to something unique the applicant can bring to the student body. Justice Clarence Thomas, who himself attended Yale during its affirmative action initiative of the 1970s, wrote that the policy “flies in the face of our colorblind Constitution,” calling it “rudderless.” Proponents of academic diversity disagree with Thomas; they worry that SCOTUS’ ruling undermines college administrators’ authority to decide how to best promote a diverse student body and, ultimately, a diverse professional workforce. Dissenting Justice Sotomayor does, too, lamenting that the ruling “further entrenches racial inequality in education.”