Civil rights advocates and progressives have expressed outrage and disappointment following a US supreme court decision that severely limits the right to consider race in college admissions.
The court’s conservative justices ruled on Thursday that admissions policies at Harvard University discriminated against Asian American applicants and at the University of North Carolina (UNC) against white and Asian American applicants, violating the constitution’s equal protection clause.
The decision effectively ends race-conscious admissions in selective American colleges and universities, overturning decades of precedent in higher education, where an applicant’s race could be a tipping point, among many other admission factors, that helps to raise the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students on campus.
The UNC chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz, issued a statement, saying: “Carolina remains firmly committed to bringing together talented students with different perspectives and life experiences and continues to make an affordable, high-quality education accessible to the people of North Carolina and beyond. While not the outcome we hoped for, we will carefully review the supreme court’s decision and take any steps necessary to comply with the law.”
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) gave a statement on the ruling, accusing the conservative-leaning court of “[bowing] to the personally held beliefs of an extremist minority”.
“Race plays an undeniable role in shaping the identities of and quality of life for Black Americans. In a society still scarred by the wounds of racial disparities, the supreme court has displayed a willful ignorance of our reality,” said the NAACP president, Derrick Johnson.
During a television appearance, Johnson also criticized the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, who is Black and now leads the six justices on the supermajority conservative wing of the bench, for his role in effectively ending the college admissions policy.
“The worst thing about affirmative action is that it created a Clarence Thomas,” said Johnson, who added that Thomas has benefited from the program only later to support its reversal.
Harvard said it would comply but issued a defiant statement.
“We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences. That principle is as true and important today as it was yesterday,” the college said, adding that diversity was “essential to academic excellence”.
The American Federation of Teachers took to Twitter.
“We will continue to work with communities of color and other historically marginalized people to tear down barriers to opportunity and ensure that pathways to higher education & leadership are open to ALL,” the union posted.
The American Association of University Professors called out the ruling on Twitter, slamming an “attack on racial justice” and said that higher education communities will rally to protect equitable values.
Leading Democrats have also decried the court’s decision as a major loss to equality.
The former US president Barack Obama said that while affirmative action was “never a complete answer”, the policy gave students “who had been systematically excluded from most of America’s key institutions” a chance to “show we more than deserved a seat at the table”.
“In the wake of the supreme court’s recent decision, it’s time to redouble our efforts,” Obama added.
The former first lady Michelle Obama wrote online about her experience as a Black college student and called out special admissions consideration that is routinely given to more resourced students, such as legacy students – that is, students with a family connection to the university, typically a relative who is an alumnus.
“So often, we just accept that money, power and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level,” said Obama in a published statement.
The Congressional Black Caucus issued a statement, reading: “By delivering a decision on affirmative action so radical as to deny young people seeking an education equal opportunity in our education system, the supreme court has thrown into question its own legitimacy,” reported CNN.
The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said that the court’s ruling “put a giant roadblock in America’s march toward racial justice”, in a statement he shared on Twitter.
“The consequences will be felt immediately as students of color will face an admission cycle next year with fewer opportunities. These negative consequences could continue for generations,” said Schumer, adding that the ruling serves as a reminder on inequality within the US.
The New Jersey senator Cory Booker called the decision a “devastating blow to our education system across the country”.
“Affirmative action has been a tool to break down systemic barriers and we must continue to advance our ideals of inclusivity & opportunity for all,” Booker wrote on Twitter.
The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action is a devastating blow to our education system across the country. Affirmative action has been a tool to break down systemic barriers and we must continue to advance our ideals of inclusivity & opportunity for all.
— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) June 29, 2023
Conservatives have largely praised the decision. Many have described affirmative action as discriminatory.
A statement for Make America Great Again, a political action committee (Pac) supporting Donald Trump, largely gave the former Republican president credit for Thursday’s decision, because he was able to nominate three conservative justices during his administration.
“President Donald Trump made today’s historic decision to end the racist college admissions process possible because he delivered on his promise to appoint constitutionalist justices,” read the statement, in part.
Trump’s former vice-president and now rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Mike Pence, celebrated the rollback.
In a tweet, Pence alleged that affirmative action only “served to perpetuate racism” and added that he was “honored to have played a role in appointing three of the Justices that ensured today’s welcomed decision”.
The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, told CNN: “Today’s rulings make clear that colleges may not continue discriminating against bright and ambitious students based on the color of their skin.”
The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, said on Twitter that the decision means that “students will be able to compete based on equal standards and individual merit”, even though Black, Hispanic and Native American college applicants have long been disproportionately excluded.
