Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Harvard University. The decision upended more than four decades of legal precedent and effectively ended the ability for both public and private colleges to consider race in the admissions process.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his opinion that the decision “sees the universities' admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences. ... Those policies fly in the face of our colorblind Constitution."
In Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent, she said "With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life."
This fall brings the first incoming class impacted by the ruling. At many elite schools, including UNC-Chapel Hill, Black admissions dropped significantly. Admitted Black students fell from 10.5% to 7.8% since last year — a 25% dip. Other institutions saw a similar decline — the MIT class of 2028 enrolled about 16% of students that are Black, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander — compared to a baseline of roughly 25% of undergraduates in recent years, according to the New York Times.
Still, the impact was not uniform. Duke University admitted slightly more Black students, and at Yale the number of Black students remained about the same.
As new cohorts of college freshmen arrive on campuses throughout the country, we sit down with local and national experts to break down the impact of the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling on affirmative action and how it is actively shaping higher education.
GUESTS:
Bryan Cook, director of higher education policy at the Urban Institute
Korie Dean, higher education reporter for The Raleigh News and Observer
Chris Marsicano, assistant professor of educational studies at Davidson College
