WASHINGTON (CN) — In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision restricting the use of race in college admissions, the Biden administration has issued guidance to institutions of higher education to promote diversity within the boundaries of the law.
The departments of Education and Justice on Monday published guidance and resources for universities to continue efforts to recruit a diverse student base without running afoul of the court’s June ruling.
“This is a moment of great urgency in higher education,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters Monday.
The high court found that affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill violated the Equal Protection Clause and the 14th Amendment. The majority opinion largely gutted the practice but stopped short of overturning more than four decades of precedent supporting such policies.
President Joe Biden sharply criticized the decision when it came down and directed the Education Department to develop the guidelines that were released Monday.
“Today's court decision is a severe disappointment for many people, including me, but we cannot let the decision be a permanent setback for the country,” Biden said at the time.
Universities argue affirmative action policies are an important tool in diversifying their campuses, while the group that successfully challenged the policies said they do more harm than good and violate the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act.
Cardona said when affirmative action policies end, fewer students of color apply or receive admission to colleges and universities.
“We cannot afford that kind of backsliding on a national scale,” he said. “Education is the foundation of opportunity in America.”
The Justice Department’s guidance notes that the ruling allows colleges to still consider how race affected an applicant’s life “through holistic application-review processes.” For example, officials said universities could examine circumstances like what it meant for a student “to be the first Black violinist in his city’s youth orchestra or an applicant’s account of overcoming prejudice when she transferred to a rural high school where she was the only student of South Asian descent.
“In short, institutions of higher education remain free to consider any quality or characteristic of a student that bears on the institution’s admission decision, such as courage, motivation or determination, even if the student’s application ties that characteristic to their lived experience with race,” the guidance says.
Colleges and universities can continue to collect and analyze demographic data about applicants and admissions but must ensure that the racial component of that data doesn’t directly influence admission policies. Administrators can use other methods to target recruitment of students in underserved areas that are statistically more likely to be of color, such as first-generation college students or people with lower income who are eligible for designated financial aid.
“Ensuring access to higher education for students from different backgrounds is one of the most powerful tools we have to prepare graduates to lead an increasingly diverse nation and make real our country’s promise of opportunity for all,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release. “These resources provide universities with the information they need to determine what lawful tools remain available to them to promote diversity in higher education.”
Meanwhile, the Education Department is investigating Harvard for its legacy admissions policies that give admission preferences to potential students related to Harvard donors and alumni.
Follow @TheNolanStout
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
