Affirmative Action Challenge

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and UNC

America’s higher education institutions have long recognized and cultivated the educational benefits of diversity. Current holistic admissions practices adhere to a legal framework that has grounded diversity efforts for decades. AACRAO believes these practices are instrumental in helping institutions to identify students who are likely to thrive in their educational programs.

There is a long history of case law that supports the use of holistic assessment’s focus on diversity and confirms that colleges and universities have a compelling interest in ensuring student body diversity. As student demographics undergo rapid change, more colleges and universities are looking beyond traditional measures to admit future students. To remove the consideration of non-academic factors is unfair to applicants for whom this is a critical part of their life and would deprive applicants of full and due consideration of their lived experiences.

Up-to-date Guidance

AACRAO encourages members to begin to examine any admissions or recruitment practices that target populations of a specific race as well as their overall holistic/equity admissions practices.

To assist in this process, AACRAO is providing this guidance document to prepare our members for a possible major change in their ability to consider an applicant’s race and ethnicity as part of a holistic/equity review in admissions.

REVIEW GUIDANCE

Webinar: Looking Back, Planning Ahead

On February 2, 2023, AACRAO hosted a webinar that examines the pending U.S. Supreme cases where the central question is whether colleges and universities can continue to consider an applicant’s race and ethnicity as part of the holistic review process in admissions.

View Recording

Updates

UNC Admissions Case Appealed to the Supreme Court

Nov 12, 2021, 11:04 AM

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Summary : If the 6-3 conservative court agrees to hear the case, it could potentially issue a sweeping ruling striking down the use of racial distinctions in higher education admissions.

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In an expected move, the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) appealed a recent federal court decision upholding the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's use of race in admissions to the U.S. Supreme Court, reported Reuters and Inside Higher Ed.

SFFA petitioned the court to fast-track the case and combine it with a similar case challenging Harvard's admissions policies. The group filed suit against both institutions in 2014, alleging that universities' admissions policies discriminated against Asian American, and in the case of UNC, white applicants.

"If the Supreme Court decides, as it should, to reconsider racial preferences in college admissions, it should consider that question in the context of both a private school and a public school," SFFA President Edward Blum said in a statement.

The group's petition also asks the court to overturn the landmark 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger ruling that has shaped admissions policies for nearly two decades. If the 6-3 conservative court agrees to hear the case, it could potentially issue a sweeping ruling striking down the use of racial distinctions in higher education admissions.