In order to create a thriving, just democracy, we need diversity. Diversity fuels innovation, it fosters empathy, and it generates creativity. For over 40 years, affirmative action was one of the nation’s key tools in helping create diverse working and learning environments. The practice of affirmative action in higher education admissions processes has been challenged several times over, and on June 29, 2023 the Supreme Court overturned previous rulings on the practice’s legality in their decisions in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC Chapel-Hill.
This episode was recorded before a decision was issued in Harvard and UNC. Despite the decision restricting the discretion of educators and admissions officers, they are still charged with the moral imperative to promote diverse learning environments. Hosted by Dr. Kesha Moore, this episode explores how affirmative action can create a thriving multiracial, multiethnic democracy, and what we can learn from institution of higher education in states that have banned affirmative action while still prioritizing diversity.
Guests:
Decades of restrictions on the scope of affirmative action and its legal underpinnings have limited its impact, but affirmative action still plays an important role in redressing centuries of educational inequality. Courts, admissions offices, and policymakers across the country should recognize affirmative action’s potential to redress the disadvantages faced by students of color in a persistently unequal education landscape.
I've been a big advocate for people to understand that diversity and academic excellence are not mutually exclusive. And in fact, you cannot have one without the other.
Student and alumni groups of Harvard and UNC represented by LDF urged the Supreme Court to reaffirm over 45 years of precedent. Students spoke to LDF about the importance of diverse college campuses and how affirmative action has been a tool to promote equity.
