June 29, 2023 - 5:15pm
The Supreme Court has delivered its long-awaited decision on affirmative action, in the case of Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard. By a 6-3 majority, the court concluded that Harvard illegally discriminated against Asian Americans.
The ruling challenges the heart of social justice ideology. “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” the majority decision reads. Harvard and other American universities have long practiced affirmative action policies which result in different standards for different races. According to a brief quoted in the decision, “[a]n African American [student] in [the fourth lowest academic] decile has a higher chance of admission (12.8%) than an Asian American in the top decile (12.7%).”
The majority declared that “both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points.” It is a ruling against the existing procedure of affirmative action, but not the ultimate goal or ideology.
The decision does not completely ban the use of race as a factor, however. “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” While the court asserts that Harvard “may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today”, it far from prevents Harvard from using new methods of racial balancing.
Indeed, Harvard’s alternatives may harm higher education even more than its existing programmes. As social scientist Richard Hanania writes:
Justice Clarence Thomas identifies similar issues in his concurrence:
These concerns highlight the dangers of a highly ideological class of diversity bureaucrats, which will continue to seek new ways to evade laws as long as they are employed.
Brian Chau is a mathematician, software engineer, and independent writer at cactus.substack.com.
psychosort
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeProgressives and activists only care about race when it comes to the Ivy League foot soldiers defending their ideology. No one cares about the kids living on the south side of Chicago.
Progressives and activists only care about race when it comes to the Ivy League foot soldiers defending their ideology. No one cares about the kids living on the south side of Chicago.
“These concerns highlight the dangers of a highly ideological class of diversity bureaucrats, which will continue to seek new ways to evade laws as long as they are employed.”
I totally agree. At this point, the so-called “march through the institutions” seems complete. The only hope I see is the poor economic outlook for many universities, and the advent of remote learning.
There are too many universities now chasing a shrinking demographic of students. The students are also realizing that higher education often provides little benefit in the job market but burdens them with debt. And the pandemic brought on-line learning to the fore. These factors will likely winnow out the weakest universities and pressure the remaining colleges to provide more market-oriented education.
As has been written about on Unherd, the traditional university might increasingly become irrelevant with continuing on-line and community-level education, oriented to practical skills, becoming the norm. No doubt, though, the Ivies, with their huge endowments, will continue to thrive and spawn bizarre ideologies.
“These concerns highlight the dangers of a highly ideological class of diversity bureaucrats, which will continue to seek new ways to evade laws as long as they are employed.”
I totally agree. At this point, the so-called “march through the institutions” seems complete. The only hope I see is the poor economic outlook for many universities, and the advent of remote learning.
There are too many universities now chasing a shrinking demographic of students. The students are also realizing that higher education often provides little benefit in the job market but burdens them with debt. And the pandemic brought on-line learning to the fore. These factors will likely winnow out the weakest universities and pressure the remaining colleges to provide more market-oriented education.
As has been written about on Unherd, the traditional university might increasingly become irrelevant with continuing on-line and community-level education, oriented to practical skills, becoming the norm. No doubt, though, the Ivies, with their huge endowments, will continue to thrive and spawn bizarre ideologies.
“But how will black people be indoctrinated in the ideology of the elite if we can’t get sufficient numbers into the brainwashing centres”
“But how will black people be indoctrinated in the ideology of the elite if we can’t get sufficient numbers into the brainwashing centres”
Is the descrimination against Jewish and Asian people because the products of the expensive private schools are not bright enough and need competition prevented ? Allowing in less able students also removes competition for not bright enough students from the the expensive private schools. Money and mediocrity trumps scholarship.