Coming Out for Affirmative Action: How American Universities Will Change

The Supreme Court overturned the measure universities used in favor of black applicants. The issue is polarizing: about ‘paternalism’ and equal opportunity.

New York/Washington. Her heart is broken, Michelle Obama writes, “for every young person wondering what their future holds — and what opportunities they have.” It’s Thursday afternoon and the Supreme Court has it affirmative action Diagonal. In other words, American universities are prohibited from evaluating the criterion of ethnicity in their admissions procedures. In German, the action is often translated as “positive distinction”.

So far, universities have been able to give preference to black applicants and members of other minorities in the admissions process, assuming a more complex educational and social environment. affirmative action It came from the sixties, from the time of the struggle for civil rights and equality in the United States. President Lyndon Johnson made it a requirement. And indeed: over the years, the number of black students in US universities has increased.

It’s unconstitutional, say six of the nine highest-profile justices. They overturned defaults by the lawsuits brought by 20,000 students against Harvard and North Carolina universities: African-American applicants are favored—despite poor performance. The majority view was that “a student should be treated on the basis of his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of his or her ‘race'”.

“white recognition”

White and asian applicants through affirmative action conservative judges said. They have had a majority on the Supreme Court since the presidency of Donald Trump, and in the progressive half of the United States, the ruling has been understood as political. After a supreme justice’s decision last year to ban abortion, ending the diversity measure is another step against liberal politics. Incidentally, on Friday, the Supreme Justices also ruled that President Joe Biden’s haircut to students is unconstitutional.