CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down their school’s race-conscious admissions plan as violating the Constitution, the board of North Carolina’s flagship public university has voted to strictly bar the use of “race, sex, color or ethnicity” in admissions and hiring decisions.
The Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill approved the resolution Thursday, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
In a pair of decisions announced June 29, court majorities struck down affirmative action in college admissions, ruling against UNC-Chapel Hill and Harvard University, the nation’s oldest public and private colleges, respectively.
“I’m confident that we’re taking all the necessary steps to fully comply” with the decisions, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz told the audience at the board’s meetings this week in what was the first in-person board gathering since the rulings.
Still, while schools nationwide are now looking for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies, the resolution tells UNC-Chapel Hill administrators that certain methods are now off-limits.
The resolution, initially approved by the board’s audit committee Wednesday, promises not to grant “preferential treatment” to any individual or group on the basis of race. The school also must not establish “through essays or other means” any regime premised upon “race-based preferences” in hiring and admissions.
Board member Ralph Meekins urged, without success, for members to postpone the vote, saying the resolution “goes well beyond the Supreme Court ruling.”
Earlier Thursday, trustee John Preyer criticized how UNC-Chapel Hill handled the litigation brought several years ago by a conservative group that accused the school’s undergraduate admissions policies of discriminating against white and Asian students. A trial judge in 2021 upheld the school’s actions, leading to appeals.
“This is a moment of…
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