Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 29 rejecting affirmative action programs at colleges and universities, area groups affected by the ruling — including Princeton University and the Trenton-based African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (AACCNJ) — weighed in. Here’s what they had to say.
In a letter to the Princeton University community, president Christopher Eisgruber wrote:
Today the United States Supreme Court backed away from more than fifty years of established case law allowing colleges and universities to take race into account as one factor among many in a holistic admission process. Those precedents wisely recognized that colleges and universities must have some discretion to determine how best to find and attract the talent that exists in every sector of our society. Today’s decision narrows that discretion significantly.
This morning’s opinion is unwelcome and disappointing, but it is not unexpected. Princeton has been preparing for this possibility with assistance and advice from legal counsel. While today’s decision will make our work more difficult, we will work vigorously to preserve — and, indeed, grow — the diversity of our community while fully respecting the law as announced today.
I may have more to say after my colleagues and I have had an opportunity to examine the details of today’s decision. For now, I will reiterate principles and commitments fundamental to this University’s mission:
• Talent exists in every sector of American society, and we have an obligation to attract exceptional people of every background and enable them to flourish on our campus.
• Diversity benefits learning and scholarship by broadening the range of questions, perspectives, and experiences brought to bear on important topics throughout the University.
• Our multicultural society requires that, in the words of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, “the path to leadership [must] be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.”
For all these reasons and more, diversity is essential to the excellence of this University and to the future of our country and the world. Princeton will pursue it with energy, persistence, and a determination to succeed despite the restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court in its regrettable decision today.
The AACNJ put out the following statement:
The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (AACCNJ) rejects the US Supreme Court’s rejection of Affirmative Action in College Admissions.
The Supreme Court on Thursday held that admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that relied in part on racial considerations violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
The ruling in the UNC case was 6-3 along ideological lines; in the Harvard case, it was 6-2, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recusing herself.
“We should work collectively to strengthen the value proposition of our Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Federation and other institutions of Higher Education that are committed to having a more competitive society,” said John E. Harmon, Sr., Founder, President & CEO, AACCNJ.
Chief Justice John Roberts, a longtime critic of racial preferences of any kind, wrote the court’s majority decision, saying that the nation’s colleges and universities must use colorblind criteria in admissions.
“The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.
Added Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: “With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country’s actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America’s real-world problems.”
“The research is exceptionally clear,” University of Texas professor Stella Flores, whose specialty is higher education and public policy, told NPR in an interview last fall. “There’s no other alternative method that will racially diversify a student body, other than the use of race as one factor of consideration.”
“We all know that facts matter, however, what is more important is who controls the narrative,” said John E. Harmon, Sr. “We are in a new era wherein precedent is no longer the standard for adjudication, and therefore blacks, and others that have a similar standing in society, must pursue fairness and equity from a value imperative. It is evident from those who represented the majority decision, that their victory stemmed from an election wherein the person representing their interests was victorious and has delivered for his constituency. Wherein, black people as an aggregate continue to vote as a collective for candidates that are often selected on their behalf and do not deliver proportionately on small issues, let alone on landmark legislation. Those who follow the courts and elections were not surprised by the Court’s decision. However, the postmortem dictates a recalibration of where we go from here.”
Added Harmon: “The Supreme Court’s decision, is etched from a charitable versus a value imperative. It is well documented how generational wealth and disparities were created in America, and that too is being rewritten. Notwithstanding, the AACCNJ will continue to drive its mission through strategic partnerships based on reciprocity, equity, and true accountability. All other methods will contribute marginally to our effort to improve the competitiveness of New Jersey.”
