Affirmative Action In Higher Education

The ruling included two cases. The case concerning the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was 6-3 along ideological lines; in the Harvard case, the vote was 6-2, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recusing. The decision reversed decades of precedent upheld over the years by narrow court majorities that included Republican-appointed justices. (11 min.)

My colleague on various AAUP committees, Dr. Derryn Moten, emailed me and others today on the occasion of the ruling. His words offer perspective that someone like John Roberts is incapable of contributing and I asked if I could share the email on the blog. He begins with a quote from the majority decision written by Chief Justice Roberts: "The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race,” Roberts wrote. “Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

One of the most discussed passages from the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on affirmative action comes at the very end. It reads:
"At the same time, nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university. Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."