A Foray into College Admissions

On June 29th, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that Harvard and the University of North Carolina could not consider race when determining admissions decisions. This case, entitled “Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard,” was a landmark decision ending over two decades of race-conscious admissions decisions in higher education. This was a result of an increasing scrutiny on admissions practices as applications to and rejections from top universities surged in the late 2010s. But why was this backlash focused on the race consideration specifically, and why were colleges even considering race in admissions to begin with?

Well, in the 1970s, several black academics proposed admitting a small number of black students into graduate programs who may not have had the test scores as high as the university’s other admitted students. However, they still had other qualifications. They posited that having a small number of less statistically qualified students would have a minimal negative impact on the university in the short-term. They also argued that these students graduated and succeeded at similar rates to other students, and that these students would go on to raise higher-income and more educated children, reducing gaps in the process. The practice of using race in college admissions was upheld in 1978 by the Supreme Court, but restrictions were placed on direct racial quotas. This marked a shift in how affirmative action was utilized. It became used to make decisions between two similarly qualified applicants, with some schools having minority status as the tipping point between them. 

Affirmative action has always been a hot-button issue, but controversy has increased in line with the rise in applications. The Students for Fair Admissions nonprofit organization was founded in 2014 as an activist group. They argued that Asian-American students faced discrimination when applying to schools like Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Scrutiny was placed on discrepancies between academic and personal ratings between applicants of different races. Ultimately, on June 29th, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3* in favor of Students for Fair Admissions citing the Equal Protection clause in the 14th amendment. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson* dissented, providing a different interpretation of the 14th amendment. 

Ultimately, this total ban on universities considering race in admissions has resulted in more ire being placed on other more subjective aspects of admissions. This has mainly been targeted towards legacy admissions. In the application cycle after this decision, the Black and Latino enrollment dropped a few percentage points year over year. The impact on the enrollment of White and Asian students was more mixed, with some schools reporting decreased enrollment with other reporting increases of upwards of 8% year over year. 

*Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did not participate in the deliberations for the case focused on Harvard due to her association with the school.