SCOTUS agrees to hear lawsuits against Harvard, UNC race-based admissions policies
The Supreme Court will hear two college admissions cases consolidated as one set of oral arguments.
The plaintiffs accuse Harvard University and the University of North Carolina of discriminating against White and Asian students.
The Supreme Court of the United States announced today it would hear two legal challenges to admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
The group leading the challenges, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), claims that the universities “discriminate against Asian-American and white applicants” by employing race-conscious admission policies.
“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admission v. University of North Carolina, federal lawsuits brought by a nonprofit membership organization in 2014 alleging that Harvard and UNC’s admissions policies discriminate against Asian-American and white applicants,” SFFA said in a statement released Monday.
Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina will be decided together.
The Supreme Court “consolidated them for oral argument, and they likely will be argued early in the 2022-23 term,” the website SCOTUSblog reports.
Associate Vice Chancellor for University Communications Beth Keith, University of North Carolina’s associate vice chancellor for university communications, told Campus Reform, “We look forward to defending the University’s holistic admissions process before the U.S. Supreme Court.
[RELATED: ANALYSIS: Following higher ed’s lead, K-12 schools deny Asian students’ achievement]
”As the trial court held, our process is consistent with long-standing Supreme Court precedent and allows for an evaluation of each student in a deliberate and thoughtful way,” Keith added.
Campus Reform reached out to SFFA and was referred to a public statement.
“We are grateful the Supreme Court accepted these important cases for review. It is our hope that the justices will end the use of race as an admissions factor at Harvard, UNC and all colleges and universities,” SFFA President Edward Blum said in the statement.
In June 2021, Campus Reform reported that the Supreme Court decided to delay its decision whether or not to hear the case.
Shortly after, Campus Reform spoke with Kenny Xu, president of Color Us United and a leading proponent of SFFA’s efforts in the lawsuits.
”If [schools] continue to go down this road and penalize the most excellent people, you’re going to eliminate quickly the culture of excellence in America that keeps us competitive and running,” Xu told Campus Reform in August.
Blum’s statement echoed Xu’s sentiments.
“In a multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation like ours, the college admissions bar cannot be raised for some races and ethnic groups but lowered for others. Our nation cannot remedy past discrimination and racial preferences with new discrimination and different racial preferences,” Blum stated.
Campus Reform reached out to Harvard University and UNC for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
