The US Supreme Court has issued a groundbreaking decision blocking Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) from using racial preferences in their application process.
Chief Justice John Roberts expressed in the majority opinion that any benefit granted to a student who has overcome racial discrimination should be based on their individual experiences, courage and determination, rather than their race. He criticized universities for prioritizing the color of a student’s skin instead of focusing on their personal growth, skills and achievements, claiming that such an approach is contrary to our constitutional history.
“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating everything,” Roberts wrote. “Consequently, the Court has considered that the equal protection clause applies “without regard to differences of race, color or nationality”; it is “universal in [its] application.’ for ‘[t]The guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to an individual and another when applied to a person of another color”.
The cases brought before the Supreme Court in 2014 involved a coalition of students, potential applicants and concerned parents who challenged these universities’ affirmative action policies, arguing that they violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The court sided with the students, applicants and parents, overturning its previous 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, who had confirmed affirmative action in college admissions.
However, it is worth noting that in the 2003 case, one of the justices who voted in favor expressed the expectation that racial preferences would no longer be necessary to achieve student diversity in 25 years. Although that deadline has not yet passed, enough time has passed since that decision.
The unfortunate reality is that the practice of implementing quotas for certain groups is not a new phenomenon. As early as the 1920s, the Ivy League tried to impose a quota system to limit the admission of Jewish students to its prestigious universities. The current quota system, known as affirmative action, has also disproportionately affected highly qualified Asian-Americans in the college admissions process.
How far did Harvard go to tilt the admissions scales against Asian students?
How far did Harvard’s affirmative action policies go?
An African-American student in the 40th percentile of their academic index is more likely to get it than an Asian student in the 100th percentile.
Black students in the 50th percentile are more likely to get into this… pic.twitter.com/9vvBuQXA24
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 29, 2023
“An African-American student in the 40th percentile of their academic index is more likely to make it than an Asian student in the 100th percentile,” noted reporter Greg Price. “Black students in the 50th percentile are more likely to enter than white students at the top.”
Sean Davis of The Federalist provided some perspective on the next move by colleges: abandoning objective college admissions standards entirely.
what comes next Non-merit-based college admissions. Instead, we will see the opposite.
Bolshevik madrassas masquerading as universities will eliminate admissions criteria that highlight differences in intelligence and ability: GPA, test scores, academic achievement… https://t.co/tzwdvyU7Rs
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 29, 2023
“Colleges will demand a new holistic approach to evaluating applicants so they can discriminate based on identity, but without obvious academic comparisons that make it easy to show they’re discriminating against qualified applicants because of their race,” Davis argued. “You eliminate objective academic criteria like grades and test scores, and you eliminate the easiest way to discern whether someone who is otherwise qualified is being discriminated against because of their race or identity.”
“The goal of the modern university is not the education of the best and brightest in the country,” he stated. “The goal is indoctrination and credentialing. The corrupt college cartel will not suddenly do a 180 on their obvious goals because of pesky court decisions telling them to stop being racist. They will become even more obsessed with race and identity in the future, but now they will start trying to hide it better.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling reaffirms American values of fairness and equality regardless of race, sex, or religion. But that doesn’t mean universities will so easily give up their divisive social justice agendas.
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OPINION: This article contains comments that reflect the opinion of the author.
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