Race-based admissions
Any day now, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling on a pair of cases, which will determine if colleges can continue to consider race as a criterion in deciding who gets in and who does not.
Many experts believe that going by the conservative leanings of six of the nine justices, the court will likely rule against race-based admissions policies, dismantling a 45-year-old legal precedent.
One case contends that Harvard’s admissions process discriminates against Asian American applicants, by holding them to a higher standard. The companion case asserts that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discriminates against both Asian American and white applicants.
Factors Influencing the college-admissions process
How have things been working so far? When college admissions committees review an application, they consider an applicant’s race as one of many factors—the others being their hometown, athletic skills, socioeconomic status, relationship to alumni, donors, or university employees—alongside their academic record.
Race is just one factor, although a vital one. If it’s outlawed by the court, though, the abolishment will have sweeping consequences, dramatically changing the composition—and complexion—of college campuses across the country.
California bans race criteria
In 1978, in the landmark judgment, the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court eliminated racial quotas—setting aside a number of seats for people from a particular race. But it did allow universities to consider race as a factor when choosing among qualified applicants.
Two decades later, in 1996, that changed. California became the first state to ban considering race in public education (as well as in employment and in contracting.) In all, nine states have since banned race-based admissions policies:…
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