This Thursday the Supreme Court of the United States gave a setback to university education, especially for students of color. This after he eliminated the "affirmative action", with which he ruled that the country's colleges and universities should no longer take into account the race of the applicant as a basis for granting an admission.
John Roberts, Chief Justice, pointed out that the admission programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina ?UNC, for its acronym in English? they violated the Equal Protection Clause because they did not offer "measurable" objectives to justify the use of the breed.
In this sense, he assured that the program implies racial stereotypes without a specific end point.
The historic decision for universities to take race into account as specific criteria for student admission will jeopardize the diversity of the student population, making it especially difficult for people of African descent and Latinos, civil rights and education advocates have pointed out.
Given this, President Joseph Biden assured shortly after the ruling that the US should not abandon its search for a more egalitarian higher education system.
“The Court has ended affirmative action in college admissions. And I strongly, strongly disagree with the Court's decision. Many people mistakenly believe that affirmative action allows unqualified students to be admitted before qualified students. It's not like that, that's not how college admissions work," he said.
The US president specified that one of the greatest strengths of the US is its diversity, and that an example of this is the US military, which has become a model of plurality, "and I think the same can be said of our schools”.
"I have always believed that America's promise is great enough for everyone to succeed and that every generation of Americans has benefited from opening the doors of opportunity a little wider to include those who have been left behind." . I believe our universities are strongest when they are racially diverse. Our nation is stronger because we take advantage of all the talent that is in it," he stressed.
And it is that, he said, although the Court can make a decision, it should not change what America represents.
"We cannot allow this decision to be the last word," Biden said. "America is an idea, an idea, unique in the world, an idea of hope and opportunity, of possibilities, of giving everyone a fair chance, of leaving no one behind. We have never fully complied with it, but we have never strayed away from it either. Now we will not walk away from her.
In this sense, the US president called on the country's universities to review their admission systems after today's decision, "orientations that are consistent with today's decision."
"They must not abandon their commitment to guarantee a student body of diverse origins and experiences that reflects all of America," he added.
In addition, he proposed that universities and colleges consider the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants.
“With this new rule, as with the old one, students have to be qualified applicants first. They need the GPA and test scores to meet the school's standards. Once that test is passed, adversity must be taken into account, including -including its lack- the lack of financial means of a student, because we know that there are too few students from low-income families, whether in large cities or in communities rural areas, who have the opportunity to go to university," he pointed out.
This, he said, means understanding the particular difficulties each student has faced in life, including racial discrimination.
“Discrimination still exists in America. Discrimination still exists in the United States. Today's decision does not change that. It is a simple fact. If a student has had to overcome adversity on their path to education, a university should recognize and value that. The universities of our country should be engines of expansion of opportunities through upward mobility. But today, all too often that is not the case.
And it is that, the students of the 1 percent of the families with the highest income in the United States are 77 times more likely to access an elite university than those of the 20 percent of the families with the lowest income.
“Today, in too many universities, the only ones who benefit from the system are the wealthy and well-connected. The odds have been stacked against workers for far too long. We need a higher education system that works for everyone from Appalachia to Atlanta and far beyond," he explained.
For his part, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the Supreme Court's conservative majority once again overturned long-standing precedent, changing the law simply because it now has the votes to do so, without concern for the costs to society and students across the country.
“Right-wing activists, including those in robes, are trying to take us back to the era of book bans and segregated campuses. As Justices Sotomayor and Justice Jackson forcefully put it, no one benefits from ignorance: diverse schools are an essential component of the fabric of our democratic society."
Newsom stressed that, "while the path to equal opportunity has now been shortened for millions of students, no court case will break the California Dream."
"The doors of our campus remain open to all who want to work hard, and our commitment to diversity, equity, and equal opportunity has never been stronger."
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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