Multiple Supreme Court verdicts are expected to roll in within the next few days and the verdict on affirmative action programs from the University of North Carolina and Harvard were struck down Thursday morning.
The court ruled that both programs incorporating race-conscious decisions on potential college admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause, found in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, and are therefore unlawful.
According to the term “equal protection” interpreted by Cornell Law School, “Equal protection forces a state to govern impartially — not draw distinctions between individuals solely on differences that are irrelevant to a legitimate governmental objective.”
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The justices ruled on two cases: Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. The vote resulted in a 6-3 vote in the UNC case and 6-2 in the Harvard case.
This decision overturned the 2003 ruling Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the court previously agreed that race could be considered as a factor in the admissions process because universities had a “compelling interest in maintaining diverse campuses.”
What could easily fix this issue (if there even is one) is that those universities that claim to lack diversity begin admitting various demographics who are applicable, capable and meet all educational standards.
In the words of the late Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
These words should still ring true today — students are entitled to nothing more than an equal opportunity to be accepted into any of the schools they strive to receive their education in. Basing one’s acceptance on their race or ethnicity, rather than their intellectual capability, not only hinders the students themselves, but transforms the best U.S. doctors, engineers, scientists, and innovators into a mere demographical quota that must be fulfilled every year.
The court said in the past, it had “permitted race-based admissions only within the confines of narrow restrictions. University programs must comply with strict scrutiny, they may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and — at some point — they must end.”
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