‘We’re really worried.’ What do colleges do now after affirmative action ruling?
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision Thursday striking down affirmative action has intensified angst among many higher-education leaders who say extending access to a diversity of students could become a challenging, high-cost and labor-intensive effort steeped in uncertainties.
Many also fear that applications from Black, Latino and other students of color will drop, and say a key priority will be to assure those students that they matter and that campus commitment to diversity remains strong.
“We’re really worried about private colleges and universities and what it means for representation,” said Christopher Nellum, executive director of Ed Trust-West, a nonprofit organization focused on education equity. “Young people, particularly young people of color, …are going receive this as a message that they don’t belong.”
The sweeping decision eliminated the use of race in admissions decisions nationwide for the first time since the high court allowed the practice in 1978 to promote diversity. Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit opposed to racial preferences, alleged that Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection by considering race in admissions decisions — and that the Ivy League campus specifically discriminates against Asian Americans.
The high court agreed in a majority opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The ruling noted that the appellate court found Harvard’s affirmative action program resulted
