On June 29th, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the affirmative action programs of college admissions. This decision will have major impacts on college admissions, with many people wondering how this will affect diversity at many prestigious universities.
In a 6-3 ruling, the majority of the Court cited the 14th Amendment, which was created to redress the inequality that Black Americans face, to justify this change. Chief Justice John Roberts argued that college admission programs may also use race in a “negative” way for applicants that may appear as more “privileged.” In addition, Roberts described affirmative action as “a benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former group at the expense of the latter” (The New Yorker).
While college admission programs can still consider applicants who discuss how race has influenced them, they cannot admit students solely because of their race. Because of this, experts predict that racial diversity in many institutions across the country will decrease.
Affirmative action remains controversial, and this decision is seen as both a tremendous advantage and disadvantage to many applicants this fall, and is expected to significantly impact the college admissions process in the future.
