The nation’s highest court ruled Thursday that colleges can no longer use race as a factor in admissions. Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, he said the admissions programs of Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause.
However, affirmative action has been banned in Florida for two decades, leading many to question the decision’s impact in the Sunshine State.
The Florida Board of Governors released this statement following the historic decision: “This decision will have no impact on Florida’s state university system. The Free State of Florida has not used affirmative action in our higher education system since the One Florida Initiative in 1999.”
That’s when Governor Jeb Bush issued a summons order A Florida Even then, the affirmative action debate was all over the news, making headlines in the New York news, for example. Simply put, it prohibited public universities from using race as a factor in admissions. The ruling of the Supreme Court applies to all higher education, public and private.
“This latest Supreme Court decision involves two different situations involving the public institution of the University of North Carolina, but it also involved Harvard, a private institution,” said Dr. Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. “So the US Supreme Court has clearly said that no university, public or private, can use race or ethnicity as a factor in admissions.”
Jewett also explained that Florida universities have implemented alternative approaches to promoting diversity, such as considering first-generation college status or family income as indicators. Regardless, he believes the ruling leaves some ambiguity, as the justices debated how much race-related factors could be taken into account.
For example, Chief Justice John Roberts said the ruling should not prohibit colleges from considering “an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, whether by discrimination, inspiration, or another way.”
“There’s a little bit of wiggle room according to the conservatives who voted, you know, six to three to establish this rule,” Jewett said. “But exactly how much leeway there is, like in a custom essay or an application, we don’t know yet because even at the Supreme Court, they were arguing about what would be allowed and what wouldn’t.”
Ultimately, Jewett believes this lack of clarity can lead to differences in interpretation and potential legal challenges.
“From my perspective, because there is disagreement between the majority and the minority on the Supreme Court about exactly what this ruling means, there will definitely be some additional judicial action required at some point in the future,” Jewett said.
According to this Pew Research Center survey, most Americans say race should not be a factor in college admissions. Specifically, it found that “half of American adults disapprove of selective colleges considering race and ethnicity in admissions, while one-third approve.”
What questions do you have about the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling?
Email: kellie.miller@winknews.com
