After the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) unfortunately ruled that colleges and universities could no longer use race as one of the several factors
in their admissions process in June of this year, questions began to arise about how to approach this situation moving forward. According to an ERN (Education Reform Now) guide, there are a few important things to keep in mind about the decision:
You might see this decision being referred to as a ban on affirmative action in media coverage, but the majority opinion on this decision mainly focused on college admissions decisions. The majority opinion does not specifically use
the term “affirmative action,” and the opinion does not address recruitment, college counseling, campus diversity programs, or financial aid.
This decision directly impacts a small number of colleges and universities since a vast majority of them did not consider race in their admissions process before this ruling.
Counselors and college access organizations should be on the look out for changes in financial aid, campus programming, hiring practices, and more. Public institutions of higher education have already begun eliminating scholarships that were connected
to an applicant’s race.
It will take several years to weigh the impact of this decision on students and their families.
Below you will find a list of dos and don’ts that aim to simplify advice provided by experts in the education sector including college admissions, school counseling, college access organizations, and advocacy groups from a series of webinars ERN hosted in this fall.
Dos
Engage students in thinking about how race, identity, and community play a role in their lives and others.
Advise students to answer application questions about how they identify by race and ethnicity. This would allow for data gathering on race, which is now more important than ever.
Encourage students to apply where they think they will thrive, which can include institutions committed to diversity.
Talk to students about how they may discuss race, identity, and community in their personal essay or supplemental questions some colleges ask.
Explain that SCOTUS specifically said that students can write about how race, identity, and community shaped their character and experience if they wish to do so.
Clarify about how supplemental essay questions about race, identity, and community are invitations for students to talk about their individual lives.
Tell students it is their decision which activities, clubs, or other extracurriculars to include in their application.
Feel free to discuss how race, identity, or community shaped a students’ character or provides context for understanding their application in letters of recommendation.
Share with other teachers to make sure they know that this ruling has no impact on letters of recommendation, as outlined by the US Department of Education.
Consider providing students with opportunities to reflect on race, identity, or community in questionnaires that can be shared with recommenders to better understand how best to help students with letters.
Evaluate your school or organization’s profile to identify whether it could be updated to better reflect the diversity of the students you serve.
Stay up to date about higher education scholarships connected to race, especially if your former students received one of them or current students are eligible for one. It is possible for these scholarships to be eliminated later in the year.
Don’ts
Advise students to avoid sharing information about themselves they wish to share.
Tell students not to apply to colleges from their list based on the SCOTUS ruling.
Wait for students to come to you with questions about including stories reflecting on race, identity, and community in their essays.
Tell students of color they have to write about race, identity, or community or that they should avoid doing so.
Tell students to focus on or avoid discussing painful or traumatic stories in their essays. It is up to the student to determine what they want to showcase in their applications.
Tell students to conceal any information that they would like to include in their application.
Avoid talking about a student’s race, identity, or community in letters of recommendation.
Remove demographic data from your school or organizations profile.
Advise students not to apply to a college because they have eliminated a race-based scholarship or may do so.
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