As a result of the United States' Supreme Court's decision of June 29th, 2023, the practice of so-called "Affirmative Action" in the process of college admissions has been brought to an end. But what is Affirmative Action? When did it start? Why did we have it? Why is it over? And, perhaps most importantly, what does this mean for you?
While we have answers to most of these questions, some remain open, and there's nothing to do about that except wait and see. This Supreme Court decision, along with related developments in college admissions, have just changed the way we apply to college, but it's not yet clear how much or in what ways. Even still, today we're going to look at Affirmative Action and what it has meant for the history of the United States and College Admissions.
What Is Affirmative Action?
As we detailed in our article about the broad changes going on in college admissions, Affirmative Action is the practice of increasing the educational or employment opportunities of underrepresented minority populations (whether on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, able-bodied status, etc.) through legislative or institutional means. In practice, this could mean anything from minority hiring programs to university curriculum diversity initiatives, but when it comes to college admissions, it specifically means considering a student's race in the admissions process to increase campus diversity.
To use a concrete example, Harvard University may want to have more students of color on campus for a number of reasons: it wants its student body to more accurately reflect the United States at large, it wants its students to experience a diverse range of life experiences, it wants to give more opportunities to students of color who grew up underprivileged, or it wants its minority students to feel more at home and included. All of these would be valid reasons for why a school would want to consider race in their admissions process, and since a supreme court decision in the 1970s, this has been standard operating procedure for many colleges and universities in the United States
When Did Affirmative Action Start?
Affirmative Action isn't an official government policy but rather a general practice taken up by a variety of institutions. The phrase is first attested to in 1961 as a result of John F. Kennedy's executive order to form the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity in response to the civil rights movement. Since then the term has been used by the government, private businesses, and universities (just to name a few) to describe the practice of increasing minority hiring and educational opportunities.
It started to become a more common practice-especially in colleges-in the late 1960s as a direct result of the social upheaval of the 1960s and the massive strides made by civil rights activists for advancing the social and political positions of people of color. Colleges began a deliberate (but not always successful) attempt to increase the number of non-white students on their campuses, which continued into the present day.
Is Affirmative Action Constitutional?
This is a sticky question, but the most concrete answer is this: right now, the official position of the Supreme Court is that Affirmative Action is unconstitutional when it comes to college admissions. However, this wasn't always the case, and the Supreme Court has ruled in the opposite direction in the past. Fairly soon after the practice began, Marco DeFunis brought the question to trial, claiming that he was denied entry from the University of Washington Law School on the basis of reverse racism. The Court, however, decided not to rule on the matter because DeFunis was in his final semester at the institution in question by the time the case got to the court.
The challenges to Affirmative Action didn't end there, however. In 1978, the issue was again brought to the Supreme Court in the historic Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, and this time, the court actually reached a decision about the practice. They ruled that "racial quotas" were illegal and violated the constitutional guarantee to equal treatment regardless of race, but they also ruled that race was ultimately allowed to be considered in the process of college admissions. This meant that Affirmative Action could live on so long as its efforts were merely focused on increasing diversity generally without necessarily guaranteeing spots to applicants based on their race.
From 1978 to 2023, this was the official position of the United States Supreme Court on the matter, but that has now changed. So is it constitutional? Ultimately, there's no single answer to this, but to keep it simple: until 2023, it was considered constitutional, but now it isn't.
Why Is Affirmative Action Over?
The literal answer is that the Supreme Court ruled that Affirmative Action was unconstitutional. The more complex answer is really in response to the question, "why did the Supreme Court make that decision?" To quote Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion on the subject: "Many universities have for too long...concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin," he wrote in the Court's official statement, concluding, "Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."
Justice Clarence Thomas concurred, claiming that Affirmative Action was out of step with our "colorblind constitution." In the eyes of these justices, the constitution does not allow for outright advantages or disadvantages to someone based on their race. As always, there was an opposing view, represented by, among others, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote, "The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society."
Even more still, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote "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." This opinion is, in essence, shared by the group of organizations suing for an investigation into Harvard's legacy admissions practices. The end of Affirmative Action nominally means colorblindness in college admissions, but the reality isn't so simple, and the argument made by these organizations is that Harvard's (and other similar schools') legacy admissions practices constitute an ultimately racist selection process even if not explicitly so.
Was the Supreme Court Right to End Affirmative Action?
In ending Affirmative Action, the Supreme Court reversed a historic decision and long standing legal precedent, and the decision is appropriately controversial. In the United States today, Black and Hispanic students continue to attend college at lower rates than their White counterparts, but access to college generally has increased. Given this state of affairs (and given the history of racism and discrimination in the United States), it seems reasonable to conclude that something should be done to increase racial equality in education. That said, many would still argue that any kind of advantages or special privileges given to students based on their race is wrong regardless of intent.
A potential solution? Rather than consider race in their admissions decisions, colleges could admit more low-income applicants and first-generation college students. In this way, colleges could still increase equality in the United States without directly factoring in race. That said, colleges are unsure of how they will proceed, citing anxiety about potential lawsuits from anti-Affirmative Action activists. This could mean that attempts to maintain the spirit of equality inherent in Affirmative Action could be a ways away, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Should I Still Mention My Race When Applying to Colleges?
We know we sound like a broken record, but it's really too early to tell. With the decision so recent, the effects not yet studied, and the changes not yet known, there is simply no way to know the right course of action yet. Plus, statements from Chief Justices have made it unclear the degree to which race can matter in college admissions at all, stating, in essence, that race can be mentioned freely in college essays so long as it's used to describe a personal triumph. This seems simple enough, but in practice, it will be difficult to navigate. This New York Times Article questions, for example, how university admissions will interpret an extracurricular such as involvement in an African-American Student Union in the wake of the decision. Simply put, they're not yet sure.
After this coming round of admissions, colleges and universities will know more about how to navigate this process, and consequently so will students. If you're anxious to know how to proceed, all there is to do is wait and keep your eyes peeled. For our part, we're staying on top of all the new developments in college admissions and are eager to find out how we can help you.
For now, though, go to College Rover and put your mind at ease a little bit. This news has made the college application process a lot more stressful for a lot of people, so we've simplified it in every way we can. Using our site, you can compare all of your college choices on only the metrics you care about, and we guarantee that we can take the stress out of a lot of this process. Visit us today and get started on this long strange trip!
