In general, affirmative action laws and policies try to ensure that applicants won't be rejected based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, age, gender, or disability. 8 min. The president excoriated the courts conservative justices and proposed new admission standards for colleges and universities to adopt after the Supreme Court rolled back race-based admissions policies. A 2019 study by the American Council on Education, for example, found that racial and ethnic diversity in education and the workforce leads to greater productivity, innovation and cultural competency. Jose Luis Magana/AP We asked readers to send us their questions about college admissions, and answered a few of them below. The court first approved the limited use of affirmative action in college admissions decisions 45 years ago, in a decision that illustrated the justices' delicate balancing of the Constitution . A Holistic Approach Affirmative action at schools like Harvard is often discussed as providing a "holistic approach" to its admission process. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, executive order that President John F. 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"They note applicants might reference race in their essays and colleges could consider students experience of discrimination in their holistic review of essays, but that such consideration must be done at an individual level," she wrote in an email. |, Culture wars: Mom says trans eighth-grader was questioned by Texas officials at school | Floridas largest school system blocks LGBTQ History Month declaration | Trust in teachers is plunging amid a culture war in education, Virginias fight over schools: Youngkin criticizes trans rules, eases path to becoming a teacher in Va. | Judge thwarts Va. Republicans effort to limit book sales at Barnes & Noble | Virginia Board of Education delays review of history standards. hide caption. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of MichiganAnn Arbor Law School. A recent Gallup poll found that Black and Latino students are more at risk for dropping out, not because they aren't capable or prepared. making it harder for ethnic minorities to vote, Here's what happened when affirmative action ended at California public colleges, With affirmative action gutted for college, race-conscious work programs may be next, a poster child for Asian students against affirmative action, Here's what happened after California banned affirmative action 25 years ago. To suggest otherwise or to cling to the fact that the schools do not always say the quiet part aloud is to deny reality.". Hundreds of colleges have stopped requiring standardized tests, essays are likely to be much more important, and admissions decisions could become much more subjective. Higher-education experts say a small number of highly selective institutions consider race in admissions. In the survey, 56% of workers said that, in general, focusing on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion at work is mainly a good thing, while far fewer (16%) said it is a bad thing. Still, he turned to Blum's Student's for Fair Admissions for answers about the schools that had rejected him. People walk through the gate on Harvard Yard at the Harvard University campus on June 29, 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. College admissions experts offer tips on selecting a topic as well as writing and editing the essay. "I gave them my test scores and a few other things about me, and then they must have ran the model on that," he said. An analysis by The Brown Daily Herald of the 2021-22 admissions cycle found that Brown University received 13,000 more applications from women, and that men had a decided advantage in admissions. The University of Virginia, for example, announced a plan this month to target 40 high schools in eight regions of the state that had little history of sending applicants. What are the cases against Harvard and UNC about? So, she adds, I think thats why many schools probably wouldnt do it., Stephanie Saul is a national education reporter based in New York. In the December 2022 survey, for example, 82% of U.S. adults said colleges should not consider race or ethnicity when deciding which students to accept, while only 17% said colleges should take this into account. By comparison, Gallup has asked U.S. adults whether they generally favor or oppose affirmative action programs for racial minorities. In 2021, the last time Gallup asked this question, a 62% majority of Americans favored such programs. Affirmative action helps create diverse classes, and years of research have shown that students of all races and ethnicities benefit from that diversity with higher levels of social, emotional and cognitive skills, including critical thinking and problem solving. These traditions include rubbing a statue to ace a test, running in a donut race and eating a 750-foot sub. Getting into selective schools this year will look different. College admissions officers say they review applications through a holistic process, also paying attention to academic records, high school course rigor, extracurricular activities, essays and letters of recommendation. There could also be pressure to blow up the entire process, eliminating preferences for the children of alumni and donors, who tend to be white and wealthy. So there's no way to really say what the right decision is. That could happen, but it doesnt have to. hide caption. And he proposed that elite schools like Harvard hold a lottery for students above a basic minimum threshold. Universities, including Harvard and U.N.C., said on Thursday that they would comply with the ruling. "This is not a case of Asian Americans win and African Americans and Latinos lose.". The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide a high-profile case in the weeks ahead about the consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions decisions. "We were able to get the University of California to actually admit that they had discriminated against Asian Americans by dis-advantaging them in what we're supposed to be head-to-head, merit-based types of competitions between Asian and white students," Chang says. Hispanic students rate that same year was 97% the same as white students. Jackson Urrutia-Andrews, Folsom, Calif. Thats a hard question to answer without a clearer picture of your entire application. They are commonly offered by nonprofits and governments and may lead to fewer job offers than paid internships. June 29, 2023 The Supreme Court's majority ruling on Thursday that rejected race-conscious admissions at colleges cited, in part, the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling means . During that cycle, 6.73 percent of male applicants were admitted, compared with 4.06 percent of women, the analysis found. Hear his reaction 01:44 Hear. Whether it will ever happen is an open question. The study concluded that "removing preferences for athletes and legacies would significantly alter the racial distribution of admitted students, with the share of white admits falling and all other groups rising or remaining unchanged. How can they know whether an admissions decision was based on an essay about personal grit or the race of the applicant that it revealed? "Students' exposure to high-quality schools and the kind of preparation necessary to gain admission is unequally distributed across ZIP codes," she says. However, more than 80 private institutions in the state had been free to consider race in admission decisions prior to the Supreme Court ruling. The terms can be confusing, especially for international students. Female students make up nearly 60 percent of students across the country. As of spring 2023, 46% of students are white, 28% are Black, 9% are Hispanic and 6% are Asian. By Jane Nam Edited by Lyss Welding Fact-checked by Marley Rose Updated on July 3, 2023 Learn more about our editorial process Timothy A. Clary/Agence. Wang was accepted at Georgia Tech, a highly ranked school. Rather, they mostly look at grades and transcripts to evaluate whether the applicants have a good chance of succeeding, experts said. The court also ruled, however, that race could be used as one of several factors in college admissions to create a diverse class. Demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor. But she says, those students are white. Many campus leaders, bracing for this outcome, say robust recruitment and academic preparation programs in underserved communities of color could help bolster enrollment numbers. Affirmative action is a set of legal procedures that aim to eliminate and make amends for past, present, and future unlawful discrimination. "To think like somebody like Ed Blum is gonna come along and basically bamboozle young Asian Americans into thinking like these policies are against us when they're actually for us is just heartbreaking," she says. But the court left open the possibility for schools to consider race as a factor in their admissions process, for the sake of campus diversity. Follow NPR's live coverage for the latest . In the Supreme Court decision striking down racial and ethnic preferences in college admissions, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had harsh words for Harvard and the University of North Carolina, calling their admissions process elusive," opaque and imponderable.. Read our research on: World Leaders | Artificial Intelligence | Affirmative Action. But many of the 100 or so schools that practice affirmative action have been planning for this moment for months, if not years. Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual not on the basis of race, he wrote. Black and Latino students increased to more than 43% of the admitted first-year class of Californians for fall 2022, compared with about 20% before Proposition 209. Then there is the issue of money, and the burdens of student debt. How familiar is the public with affirmative action? Searching for a college? Hes won the top investigative reporting prize from the L.A. Press Club and print Journalist of the Year from the L.A. Society of Professional Journalists chapter. "There is a need for anti-bias training for specifically admissions readers that read Asian American student files," she says. In a December 2022 Pew Research Center survey, around eight-in-ten U.S. adults (79%) said they had ever heard the phrase affirmative action.. He teaches tap dancing and has two superior daughters. Still, he warned that the personal essay could not play a stealth role in telegraphing race. ", In the court's current opinion, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch concurred that "Harvard and UNC choose to treat some students worse than others in part because of race. Today, the United States Supreme Court correctly called discrimination what it is wrong, regardless of the skin color of the intended beneficiary," Pam Bondi, chair of the Constitutional Litigation Partnership and co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice at the America First Policy Institute, wrote in a statement. Four years later, American public opinion is more mixed, with half of adults saying race should not be considered and about one-third saying they approve of affirmative action policies, according to a 2023 Pew survey. Sally Chen says that a pattern of lower personality ratings for Asian American applicants indicates pervasive racism and implicit bias. In college essays, students dont write about their trials and tribulations, said Shannon Gundy, an admissions official at the University of Maryland. History behind race-based college admissions practices the Supreme Court overruled By Emily Mae Czachor June 29, 2023 / 5:07 PM / CBS News Experts predict it will be harder for colleges to defend legacy admissions after the affirmative action ban. July 8, 2023. But the problem isn't affirmative action. "The civil rights movement inspired the development of this life-altering policy that has supported all students since the late 1960s. A larger share of Americans disapprove than approve of higher education institutions taking race and ethnicity into account when admitting students, according to several recent Center surveys. LGBTQ+ students should check to see if a school has out faculty and inclusive housing and bathrooms. Some education officials have already discussed how to leverage the essay. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve . Leaders at historically Black colleges and universities say overturning race-conscious admissions would have a dire impact on higher . About 16% say they're not sure. Americans who had heard the phrase affirmative action in the Centers December survey were asked whether they saw it as a good or a bad thing. June 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down race-conscious policies in college admissions, ending decades of precedent that had allowed schools nationwide to use such. The role of HBCUs in a post-affirmative action America. What is critical race theory? Some Americans see these programs as an effective way to address past wrongs and increase racial and ethnic diversity in higher education and the workplace. Chen even agrees that some Asian American students may be losing spots to less qualified students. So far, most schools have resisted those entreaties, saying that these preferences build community and assist in fund-raising. With the Supreme Court having ruled against affirmative action policies in higher education, some legal experts worry about the future of workplace diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Berkeley sociologist who has studied college admissions. The protests proved ultimately ineffective, partly because of pre-existing state voter initiatives. Demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor. "I've been pouring over the data for years," she says including the admissions data of Harvard before the court in one of the case that just ended affirmative action. It has not entirely succeeded in enrolling students who fully reflect the states ethnic and racial makeup, but has made meaningful progress toward that goal. "He's saying 'hey Asian Americans, you too can see Black and brown people demanding equity and inclusion as a threat to you. David Butow/Corbis via Getty Images As a response to the court's decision, experts predict that colleges may increase outreach in communities of color and rural areas. Adam Schiff dominates rivals in fundraising for Californias U.S. Senate race. There are a million ideas out there., Anemona Hartocollis is a national correspondent, covering higher education. Even winning a writing contest wont necessarily be the ticket to Columbia, she said, but exhibiting a long term passion for writing could be a big help. Affirmative action refers to policies established by schools or employers aimed at increasing the diversity of a student body or workforce through the consideration of candidates' race. Since Bakke, the Court has upheld affirmative action in admissions despite multiple challenges, including Fisher v. University of Texas, decided as recently as 2016, in which Abigail N. Fisher, a . In response to a question asking if his actions are racist or bigoted, Blum told CBS News' Sunday Morning that "I think that's an easy, intellectually lazy way of making an argument.". Around a quarter (24%) said companies and organizations should take a persons race and ethnicity into account in addition to qualifications to increase diversity. Demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor. Ms. Holley, the incoming Mount Holyoke president, imagined a question that would say something like: One of the core values of Mount Holyoke College is diversity of all kinds. Do extracurriculars help? Though you would be hard put to get an admissions officer to confirm it, there have been reports that suggest that male students have an easier time getting into college. Research shows that diversity benefits all students. Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges. At USC, Asian Americans make up 24% of undergraduates, with Latino students at 17% and Black students at 6%. In the 2019 survey about hiring and promotion decisions, majorities of Democrats and Republicans alike said companies and organizations should take only a persons qualifications into account, even if it results in less diversity. A college could maintain its values by, for instance, giving two tickets to alumni families, if it had a policy of legacy admission. Even in liberal California, the public has voted twice to prohibit affirmative action. Black students at the University of California, Berkeley, made up only 3.4 percent of last falls incoming freshman class, a quarter-century after the ban took effect. Its a complex process, and this opinion will make it even more complex.. It would be nearly impossible, however, to eliminate any mention or suggestion of race in the admissions process starting with applicants names. Blum's group, on the other hand, was founded by a white man and "never produced any students who were discriminated against as they had in the Fisher case," Chang says. Some proponents of affirmative action agree that there are legitimate questions about whether or not Asian American admission numbers continue to be suppressed at some elite universities. White and Black adults were also more likely than Asian or Hispanic adults to have heard the phrase. Public attitudes about affirmative action can also vary depending on the specific context in which it is being discussed, such as in higher education or the workplace. 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