Affirmative action, a form of race-based admissions, was first instituted in the 1960s when competitive colleges began admitting students of color. On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions in a 6-3 ruling. Some supporters of this decision believe that without affirmative action there is room for newer and better systems. But, making effective alternative policies before striking it down would have been much more effective.
Affirmative action allows colleges to use race as a factor while judging applicants during the college admissions process. It was created to begin reversing the over 100-year history of systematic racism in education and make the student population more representative of the community. Affirmative action has greatly benefitted minority students. In fact, according to a 2023 study from the Journal of Public Economics, affirmative action has increased the number of underrepresented minority students enrolled by 20%. A 2000 study by Georgetown and Michigan State economists shows that by 1990, the use of affirmative action had increased the amount of Black medical students by 400%. This led to a larger number of medical professionals who chose to work in underprivileged areas, which, in turn, benefitted the areas. Through this, affirmative action also helps to improve communities and combat medical racism. Evidently, affirmative action not only diversifies the student population but supports minorities in multiple ways.
However, affirmative action is not perfect. Andrew Brennen, a Black 27-year-old Columbia Law student says that Black students in his year are isolated and discriminated against because their peers do not believe they have earned their place. This is an observation shared by Granderson Hale, a 71-year-old Wesleyan University graduate, who has noticed that Black professionals are not respected because they are perceived to have had an advantage in college. “People don’t respect you if they have to let you in,” Hale said. He feels that if action was directed towards the improvement of K-12 education instead, people of color would not be seen this way.
Another argument in favor of the Supreme Court ruling is that the system is outdated. As more cultures are mixing and more people are identifying as multiracial, they argue that affirmative action does not account for children of mixed heritage.
The Supreme Court decision has brought many concerns to my mind. Without affirmative action, minority students could lose the hard-won gains of the last 50 years. On the other hand, striking down affirmative action could create a new opportunity for better systems. Both sides make valid arguments, but I worry about the future of students who would have benefited from affirmative action. Who could have been our next Barack Obama or Sonia Sotomayor if affirmative action was still in place? My issue is not with the reversal of affirmative action specifically, but that without any system to combat systemic racism, losing affirmative action will affect minorities significantly. Many alternative methods for maintaining diversity have been proposed, such as class-conscious admissions, top percent policies, and holistic review. But how effective are they really?
A study from the Journal of Public Economics shows that class-conscious admissions resulted in Black enrollment falling from 7-4%, while top percent policies and holistic review resulted in a modest increase of minority students by 4-7%, numbers that are small in comparison to affirmative action’s 20%. Based on these statistics, minority enrollment in college is likely to plummet because of the loss of affirmative action. This could have been prevented if the government had focused on a stronger early education for underprivileged kids prior to striking down affirmative action. With a stronger K-12 school system we could continue on without affirmative action while still moving towards equity.
