Biden administration promotes alternative diversity admission measures following fall of affirmative action
One of the most emphasized strategies includes ‘targeted recruitment programs’ to historically black institutions and ‘minority serving institutions.’
The Department of Education recently published a report detailing different strategies to increase diversity in enrollment following SCOTUS’ ruling against affirmative action.
Just months after the Supreme Court ruled that universities cannot discriminate against applicants on the basis of race in the college admissions process, the Department of Education published a report detailing how schools can continue to “advance diversity in higher education.”
One of its primary strategies is “targeted recruitment programs” aimed at enrolling students from historically black colleges and minority serving institutions. It states that institutions seeking to increase diversity should also “prioritize targeted outreach and K–12 pathways programs in communities with high proportions of low-income students and students of color.”
According to the report, these outreach programs include direct contact information to administrative staff, provision of information about the institution, and how to apply.
The report posits that, “Increasing the pool of talented applicants from underrepresented groups helps improve the likelihood that institutions can advance student body diversity.”
Another strategy outlined by the report and mentioned in a Sept. 28 White House press release is “[g]iving meaningful consideration in admissions to the adversity students have faced,” including racial discrimination and obstacles that might hinder racial diversity.
The report includes an opening statement from Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in which he makes his case for these strategies.
“A college degree remains one of America’s surest pathways to a rewarding career, upward mobility, and long-term prosperity. Yet, students of color and other historically underserved students have long faced inequities in educational opportunity, college preparation, and access to higher education,” he writes.
This comes after Harvard University—one of the defendants in the landmark Supreme Court ruling that was released in June—implied in a statement that it would continue to admit students on the basis of race via a possible loophole in the decision, per previous Campus Reform coverage.
Chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Congresswoman Dr. Virginia Foxx, also told Campus Reform in a one-on-one interview in July that she thinks colleges will “try to get around [the SCOTUS ruling] to get a diverse student body as though that is the holy grail.”
Campus Reform contacted the Supreme Court, the Department of Education, the White House, Miguel Cardona, Harvard University, and Rep. Dr. Foxx for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
