US High Court to Review Race Consideration in College Admission

The United States Supreme¹ Court has agreed to review a legal effort aiming to overturn the consideration of race in college admissions. The court's ruling could affect affirmative action policies used to increase diversity at American colleges.

Affirmative action is a set of policies designed to end unlawful discrimination. It is also used to help people in a group that has been discriminated² against in the past.

The nation's highest court said Monday that it will hear the appeal by a group called Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel³ Hill. The group is founded by Edward Blum. He has worked for many years to fight against racial consideration in the college admission process.

The SFFA accused the universities of discriminating⁴ against applicants⁶ based on race in violation⁷ of federal law or the U.S. Constitution. It claimed Harvard has discriminated against Asian Americans with higher test scores and chosen to admit Black and Hispanic students with lower grades.

But Harvard said the school only considers race in a way that earlier Supreme Court cases have permitted. Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said in a statement that its admission policy "produces a more diverse student body which strengthens the learning environment for all."

The university also noted⁸ that its share of Asian Americans has grown in recent years. Harvard reports that nearly 26 percent of the latest first-year students are Asian-American. Black students make up 16 percent and Hispanic students are 12.5 percent of the class.

Two lower courts agreed with Harvard's argument and ruled that while its admission policy is "not perfect," it is "constitutional." The decisions were based on 40 years of Supreme Court rulings related to affirmative action.

Affirmative action rulings

The Supreme Court first ruled in 1978 that race could be considered in college admission. But the decision banned the Medical School of the University of California at Davis from establishing racial quotas¹⁰. In other words, schools cannot set aside a percentage or number of students for admission based on race alone.

The high court again ruled in 2003 that the University of Michigan's law school could consider race in its admission process to create "a diverse educational environment."

In the latest filing, Edward Blum and the SFFA asked the court to overturn its own 2003 ruling in the University of Michigan case known as Grutter v. Bollinger. It is the second time that Blum has tried to appeal the court to end the consideration of race in college admission.

In 2016, Blum and others asked the court to review the admission policy of the University of Texas at Austin. But the court followed its earlier decisions and ruled that the use of race in the university's admissions efforts was constitutional.

What has changed?

Since 2016, two of the justices who voted to support the use of affirmative action in college admission are no longer on the court.

The addition of three new justices, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett has greatly expanded the court's conservative majority. And the upcoming retirement¹¹ of Justice Stephen Breyer is not expected to change its make-up.

The administration of former President Donald Trump¹² had backed Blum's case against Harvard. It also filed legal action alleging¹³ discrimination against Asian American and white people at Yale University.

But the administration of President Joe Biden recently dropped the case against Yale. It also urged the Supreme Court to stay away from the case against Harvard and UNC and asked the court not to take the "extraordinary step" of overruling the 2003 decision.

The Supreme Court will review the Harvard and UNC cases later this year and issue a ruling sometime in 2023.

"A striking out of affirmative action will certainly be devastating¹⁴ to Black applicants. It will be very, very harmful to Latinx applicants."

That is Kevin Brown, a professor at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University.

Brown said affirmative action enabled Black students like him to go to law school at Yale in the early 1980s. It helped white students to learn new ideas from Black students in discussion groups. Some of these law students who got to know Black students for the first time are now lawyers, professors, and judges, he said.

"What you're also taking away from the white students is this multicultural¹⁵ background, which means when they become the decision-makers of our society, they are most likely to make some very bad decisions because they don't have enough experience dealing¹⁶ with the different races and ethnicities and cultures that exist in the U.S."

Words in This Story

diverse – adj. different from each other

applicant⁵ – n. someone who asks for something, like a job or entrance to a college

allege¹⁷ – v. to state something without proof

devastate¹⁸ – v. to destroy something or cause great damage

grade – n. a number or letter that shows how a student performed on a test or in a class

quota⁹ – n. an official limit on the number of things or people that is allowed

latinx – adj. a way of describing people who are of Latin American or Hispanic identity in the U.S. without using a gender

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

3 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

4 discriminating   

a.有辨别能力的

参考例句：

• Due caution should be exercised in discriminating between the two. 在区别这两者时应该相当谨慎。
• Many businesses are accused of discriminating against women. 许多企业被控有歧视妇女的做法。

5 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

6 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

7 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

10 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

11 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

13 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

14 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

15 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

16 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

17 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

18 devastate   

v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒

参考例句：

• A few days before,a fire had devastated large parts of Windsor Castle.几天前，温莎城堡的大部分被一场大火烧毁。
• Earthquakes can also cause tsunamis,which devastate coastal regions.地震还引发海啸，它直接破坏海岸地区。