Affirmative Action: The Future of College Admissions
If you’ve been following Ivy Link’s blog, you’ll know we’ve been writing a lot about the Affirmative Action case in front of the Supreme Court. In short, the Court is currently deciding on whether or not to overturn Affirmative Action based on a lawsuit filed by Student For Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. A decision in the case is expected to be made by June. Given the conservative leanings of the Court, it seems realistic to believe that Affirmative Action may soon be struck down, leaving many questions about how colleges will proceed in their admissions process.
Recently, The New York Times published an article discussing the repercussions of eliminating Affirmative Action. They highlight several changes that are likely to occur. The biggest change will be that colleges will soon become less diverse. According to a brief submitted by 33 schools to the Supreme Court, “The probability of Black applicants receiving offers of admission would drop to half that of white students, and the percentage of Black students matriculating would drop from roughly 7.1 percent of the student body to 2.1 percent.” A decrease this large would affect an entire generation. Smaller liberal arts campuses, such as Wesleyan, say that their small classes thrive on the interactions of diverse student bodies. After all, part of the college experience is to have your beliefs and perspectives challenged by people of different opinions and backgrounds. Depriving an entire generation of that experience will no doubt prohibit their growth creating a tidal wave that will be felt for years to come.
Another question in eliminating Affirmative Action is how it will change the way funding and scholarships are distributed. Certain scholarships, particularly those reserved for students of color who rely on the funding to pay for school, might end up on the chopping block. Additionally, “fly-in” programs, which provide expenses-paid visits to college campuses, usually reserved for students of color or low-income students, would also be a thing of the past.
The Proactive Approach
Most colleges aren’t waiting around to see what the Supreme Court decides. Instead, they are working on ways to continue promoting diversity without explicitly focusing on race. One example is that some colleges are changing their scholarships to include students who are the first in their family to attend college. This would provide a lot of opportunities to Black and Latinx students, among otehrs, to fund their education.
Another change that colleges are making is that they are making test-optional policies permanent. At the height of Covid, many schools became test-optional as the pandemic made testing a difficult process. While several schools have returned to testing requirements, many are choosing not to do so. Some have opted to move to test-blind admissions, such as the University of California system. Standardized tests have long been criticized for benefitting white students and wealthy students. “It tells me something that half of Black and Latinx students are saying, ‘I don’t want to submit my test scores’” says Dr. Julie J. Park, an education professor at the University of Maryland. She added that research shows that test-optional policies have a small but positive impact on enrollment of underserved minority students. To date, more than 18,000 colleges have a test-optional policy, though most of the top-schools still require test scores. But it’s interesting to think about what other qualities are being considered at test-optional schools. GPAs and extracurricular projects, whether academic or athletic, might carry more weight, as well as volunteer and leadership positions in various organizations.
So it seems as though eliminating Affirmative Action creates more questions than it does provide answers. For now, all we can do is wait and see what the Supreme Court decides. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Check back for updates.
