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SALT LAKE CITY — The higher education community is responding to the Supreme Court's decision to strike down affirmative action on Thursday.
Some institutions and experts criticized the court's decision, calling for countermeasures, while others applauded it but expected a tough fight in courts in the future. Meanwhile, polls indicate that Americans are already through with affirmative action.
Here in the Beehive State, the University of Utah released a statement saying that it "does not use race or ethnicity as a factor in its admissions process."
"Our priority still is to build an environment where our students, current and prospective, see the U as a place where they can pursue their passion and a path to opportunity," said Taylor Randall, University of Utah president.
Utah System of Higher Education also reaffirmed that the Supreme Court's decision will not impact the admissions process in the state, but the organization will continue analyzing the broader impacts of this ruling.
Meanwhile, Westminster University said that regardless of the court's ruling, the school "will continue to support and further diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the parameters determined by the Supreme Court."
The decision struck down race-conscious policies in two separate cases — Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College in a 6-2 ruling, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina in a 6-3 ruling.
Students for Fair Admissions brought forward both suits last October, and they alleged that the admissions process discriminated against white and Asian American applicants and gave preference to Black, Hispanic and Native American applicants.
Asian American Coalition's Yukong Mike Zhao told reporters outside the Supreme Court Thursday that since the case was filed six months ago, nearly 360 organizations united behind Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in both decisions, as the Deseret News reported. He called it a "historic win for Asians and all Americans."
Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and author of "Canceling Justice: The Illiberal Takeover of Legal Education," said that although the court closed the door on racial discrimination with their decision, he expects litigation to continue as universities try to maintain the status quo that's existed for more than 45 years.
"Higher-education grandees have long interpreted the court's cautious approval of the temporary use of race (as one of many factors) as a green light for a permanent diversity-industrial complex," Shapiro said. "They will not go quickly into the colorblind night of merit-based admissions, but will fight for workarounds to maintain their system of racial spoils."
"But it's clear that the Supreme Court has no more constitutional patience for admissions officers' social engineering or university administrators' DEI posturing," Shapiro added.
Whether or not higher education institutions are on the same page, the recent YouGov poll shows that Americans are willing to move past traditional affirmative action.
Nearly 65% of U.S. adults surveyed say that colleges should not be allowed to consider an applicant's race, while 35% said that it should be considered and 10% said they didn't know.
It now falls to the higher education community to protect what we value: ensuring access to higher education for all students, promoting equity in education, and fostering vibrant university campuses characterized by the freedom to learn, teach, and conduct research.
–A statement by the American Association of University Professors
Erika George, a law professor at the University of Utah, told the Deseret News that she observed in the ruling that universities aren't banned from considering a student's personal experience related to race. An exception is also in place for military academies to use race-conscious admissions policies, she added.
She said that Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurrence claimed that the court has "for all intents and purposes" overruled the precedent set by the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger — which upheld the use of race in admissions.
"But it is worth noting that the other justices have not joined his concurring opinion. This makes me question whether Grutter is expressly overruled given the exception made for military academies and the recognition by the majority of justices that race is not always entirely irrelevant such that an applicant can discuss the role of race in their lives," George said.
With that said, the American Association of University Professors, a union that represents professors across the country, said it will continue to fight against the ruling, according to a statement.
"It now falls to the higher education community to protect what we value: ensuring access to higher education for all students, promoting equity in education, and fostering vibrant university campuses characterized by the freedom to learn, teach, and conduct research," the statement said.
College Possible, a nonprofit that helps low-income students with college admissions, made a similar statement. CEO Siva Kumari called the ruling "a deeply consequential decision."
Kumari said that it will impact more than 24,000 students served by her organization nationwide.
"We've also witnessed the negative impact of affirmative action bans and restrictions within several of the regions in which we serve students," she said.
Nine states — including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington — have banned race-conscious admissions in recent years.
"Evidence-based programs that augment the limited capacity of high school and college staff will continue to play a critical role in a post-affirmative action world, as we have seen in states that have already banned affirmative action in admissions practices," Kumari said, calling upon policymakers, educators and advocates to "find new ways to address the root causes that have created barriers to educational opportunity and success."
