Stanford campus newspaper demands affirmative action 'roadmap' ahead of SCOTUS ruling

The Stanford Daily Editorial Board argued in a June column that Stanford University should provide information regarding how it currently factors race into admissions and how it will continue to do so if the Supreme Court overturns affirmative action.

The Stanford student newspaper called for transparency ahead of the Supreme Court’s upcoming rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University. The rulings could possibly declare race-based affirmative action unconstitutional and the editors demanded to know which students this would affect. 

[RELATED: Stanford prof blames ‘white supremacy,’ ‘long backlash to the civil rights movement’ for possible overturning of affirmative action]

“Without an understanding of the current admissions process, we cannot prepare ourselves for the scope of change that may follow the Supreme Court rulings,” the editors wrote. “The outcome of the Supreme Court decision will deeply affect all members of our community. It is an especially great cause of anxiety for underrepresented students whose communities at Stanford may shrink.” 

The editors disagreed with the notion that the expected rulings will not change the racial composition of the student body, noting that Black and Latino enrollment at UC Berkeley and UCLA was cut in half after Proposition 209– which banned any consideration of race in admissions– passed in California in 1996. 

They also cited Harvard’s 2018 Smith Report, which concluded that Harvard would experience a significant decline in the enrollment of Black students if affirmative action was rolled back.

The editors then called for Stanford to produce a “roadmap” for ensuring racial and ethnic diversity on campus, posing three questions to the University, including, “If race is mostly a proxy for diverse lived experiences, then how will admissions policies adapt to maintain that diversity?”, “If racial diversity is a value separate from diversity of lived experiences, then what does Stanford want their student body to look like?”, and, “Most crucially, how does Stanford currently factor race into admissions? Is it explicit, implicit, coded away in application-sorting algorithms?”  

They also suggested ways that Stanford could accomplish this, including organizing a panel with legal experts and university leadership, creating a website outlining details of the admissions process, and releasing a pro-affirmative action argument from University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne.

[RELATED: NYU has a warning for students about possible end to affirmative action– Campus Reform Fellows explain why it’s wrong]

“If Stanford truly prioritizes giving students ‘the opportunity to learn from the wonderful diversity of identities, experiences, and perspectives that exist in the world,’ then it should work in advance to transparently inform students and all who will be affected by this monumental ruling,” the editors concluded. “We have faith that Stanford administrators will fulfill its commitments to underrepresented students: it is now crucial to tell us how.”

In a statement, Stanford told Campus Reform, “[L]ike other universities, Stanford will be reviewing the forthcoming rulings and assessing their implications for university admissions.”

Campus Reform contacted every relevant party for comment. This article will be updated accordingly. 

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