“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”
– Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on two cases challenging affirmative action in higher education: Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina/Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College. The decision ends affirmative action programs in college admissions and undermines efforts to create the diverse campuses that our nation needs. Like the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and UnidosUS, DREDF joins in condemning this decision.

Affirmative action is intended to address the racism, exclusion, and discrimination that Black and Brown people have endured throughout our history and still endure today due to entrenched systemic and institutionalized racism. The consideration of race, alongside other factors, in college admissions has been an effective tool to help end hundreds of years of white favoritism and advantage in universities across the country. A holistic, race-conscious admissions process increases access to higher education for all students, particularly underrepresented racial and ethnic groups who face systemic barriers.

When the University of California was forced to stop using affirmative action in admissions more than fifteen years ago, Black and Latine enrollment fell by half in the first year at the UC’s Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses, according to Insider Higher Ed. Since then, the UC system has spent more than a half-billion dollars on using race-neutral measures to increase student diversity, but all have fallen short.

Our country thrives when we benefit from the talents and potential of students from all backgrounds and build respect for everyone. Diversity of thought, background, identity, and experience is critical to achieving a just, productive, and inclusive society. We must all continue to work together to achieve that goal, despite this disappointing Supreme Court ruling. The Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley prepared detailed guidance on how to “advance equity” within the parameters of the law, including those laid down yesterday. We will not let the Supreme Court’s decisions curtail our freedom to reach our highest potential.