BETHLEHEM, Pa. — It's been a little over a week since the U.S. Supreme Court upended decades of precedent on affirmative action in higher education, but local college administrators and one of their critics reached an early consensus — for better or worse, it may not change much.
- Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upended decades of precedent on affirmative action in higher education
- Local college administrators and one of their critics reached an early consensus it may not change much
- The leaders said they want to reassure their communities they are committed for fostering diverse learning environments
Leaders of local colleges, including Lehigh University, Lafayette College and Muhlenberg College, granted interviews and provided statements to reassure their communities they were committed to fostering a diverse learning environment. Colleges are intended to expose students to new ideas and challenge their perspectives, they said, and that can't be done with a homogenous student body. But the school officials all said they also try to consider all the known attributes of the applicants rather than an ethnicity attached to a high school GPA.
"We were never in the practice of making admissions decisions based solely on race," said Dan Warner, vice provost of admissions and financial aid at Lehigh. "That singular piece of information, devoid of context, is not helpful to us at all."
At the same time, Bethlehem NAACP President Esther Lee said many of the region's colleges haven't done enough to assist local students of color in furthering their education. Too often, the admissions process is less a meritocracy and more about which students have deep-pocketed families or connections to alumni, she said. As much as she abhorred the court's decision last week, Lee was skeptical it would shake up the status quo.
"We're at the mercy of the universities. We were then, and we still are," Lee said. "How could it change any worse?"
SCOTUS ruling
At the close of its session June 29, the Supreme Court reversed 45 years of precedent and ruled college administrators should not consciously consider race when determining whether to admit prospective students. In the main case, a group of anonymous Asian American students rejected from Harvard University argued the Ivy League school's admissions process put Asian American applicants at a disadvantage even when they had strong academic records.
Rulings from the high court in 1978 and 2003 had determined that colleges could not set racial quotas or strict formulas as part of the admissions process, but it allowed schools to more narrowly use affirmative action to ensure diversity. Minority opinions in those rulings argued affirmative action was needed to address past injustices that had held back minority groups.
But the majority opinion from Chief Justice John Roberts last determined that even these lesser forms of affirmative action violate the Constitution. The 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, he wrote, puts everyone on the same footing. That means it cannot be used to give minority special treatment, even if it's well intentioned.
"The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race," he wrote.
The court did allow for one option for race to play a factor, however. Students, during the application process, could chose to submit essays or discuss how race has impacted their lives and perspectives. Colleges can in turn consider these experiences while considering the prospective student as an individual.
"My immediate thought was the optics of it were red meat for both sides, but that the reality of the ruling is that it's probably going to have less impact than most people think."Dan Warner, Lehigh University's vice provost for admissions and financial aid
Warner said the holistic approach favored by the court's majority already fit into Lehigh's existing strategy. The school has long considered topics such as academic performance, athletic and extracurricular activities and their potential fields of study into account as part of the program, he said.
Even recruitment efforts specifically made to attract minority students aren't reserved just for students of color. Once a year, Lehigh hosts a welcome event where prospective students of minority backgrounds are flown into town for a chance to experience the campus up close and learn about its character, Warner said. A similar event is held for students once they've been accepted into the school, he said. But comparable efforts are also extended to other groups, including flying in high school students from western states, he said.
The goal, he said, is to avoid group think by enrolling people from a wide array of backgrounds — economic, ethnic and geographic, to name a few. At the same time, the school wants to be sure accepted students are academically prepared to succeed once their enrolled. This approach, he believes, would stand up to the scrutiny of the court while still allowing Lehigh to mold its incoming classes. Most colleges, he said, have adopted similar strategies.
The real result of the court case, he said, is that colleges may need to be more attentive about which specific students they accept. Lehigh, for example received 18,415 applications from prospective students for just 1,523 spots this year, Warner said, and larger schools can receive far more. Lehigh, he said, is the perfect size to give each applicant a thorough review, get a sense of each of their strengths and interests and build the student body from there.
"My immediate thought was the optics of it were red meat for both sides, but that the reality of the ruling is that it's probably going to have less impact than most people think," Warner said. "Anything that makes us be more thoughtful and purposeful about or work is a good thing."
About a third of Lehigh's incoming class, he added, come from underrepresented groups.
Megan Ryan, Muhlenberg College's vice president for enrollment management, expressed similar thoughts. Muhlenberg has been ramping up efforts to attract a more diverse student body in recent years — 26% of current first-year students are domestic people of color, she said. But she said Muhlenberg takes a holistic approach and considers more than just the color of a student's skin.
“This isn't the first time that race-conscious admissions practices have come before the Supreme Court," Ryan said. "So it's something that in the college admissions landscape, we're often discussing. “
"Our college has recruitment strategies and decades of partnerships with community-based organizations that allow us to engage a broad pool of talented students," Muhlenberg President Kathleen Harring wrote in an op-ed.
And at Lafayette College, President Nicole Hurd said the school's "holistic approach" should allow the admissions office to quickly adapt to the court's decision.
"We will work even harder to build partnerships with non-profits, pursue an aggressive high school recruitment program, and activate our alumni networks to help us build diversity in our applicant pool," she said in a statement.
The ruling should have no effect on schools with open admissions, such as Lehigh Carbon Community College and Northampton Community College. These schools accept any student who meets minimum academic standards, though they typically only offer associate degrees and certificates.
'We should pursue whatever our goals are'
Despite the predictions of minimal impacts at Lehigh Valley colleges, the rulings still raised serious concerns from some in the community. Harring raised fears that the ruling would hamstring college's efforts to create diverse campuses and erect barriers for minorities that have historically faced discrimination.
"Without question, this places our nation on the wrong side of history," Harring said in her op-ed.
Addressing inequity
Lee, a longtime civil rights champion, and local activist Ashleigh Strange said the court's ruling would prevent groups from addressing inequality that's been baked into society by centuries of discrimination. Even forms of overt racism that the court outlawed decades ago, such as segregated schools and redlining — the government practice of limiting where Blacks could purchase properties — still affect minorities today because they prevented families from building wealth they could pass down to future generations.
"Marginalized people are marginalized because they were kept out of public goods and services, up to and including college," Strange said.
Strange pointed out that local activists have urged businesses and elected leaders to adopt more inclusive policies, such as requiring protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community. While the court ruling may prevent colleges from giving special considerations to racial minorities, local people can use their voices to make sure schools don't abandon diversity efforts, either, she said.
No one interviewed for this story would say how diverse a college student body should be. But Lee expressed frustration that many local four-year colleges don't accept more students of color from the Lehigh Valley. Some high-performing students have to leave the area get their education, and she said she fears many of them won't come back as they set out on their careers. The ruling, she said, will do nothing to help that.
Lee added that it's critical that prospective students not allow the ruling to limit their own futures. While it's discouraging the court has blocked colleges from putting undue considerations on race, she said, schools cannot accept students who don't apply for admission.
"We're Americans, and we should pursue whatever our goals are in life," Lee said. "It angers me that the court would come down with a decision like this, but I would not discourage our students from applying. I would hope that our high school counselors would do the same."
WLVR Morning Edition Host/Reporter Brad Klein contributed to this story.
