Harvard v The Supreme Court
After the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina ruled that affirmative action in admissions programs was unconstitutional, a new lawsuit emerged that challenged Harvard’s preferential treatment towards children of wealthy donors and alumni.
The Supreme Court ruled that schools can no longer take race into consideration as the specific reason for accepting a candidate.
The students attending Harvard come from predominantly white, wealthy families, and make up as much as 15% of the school’s admitted students. Lawyers for the civil rights group stated that, “This preferential treatment has nothing to do with an applicant’s merit. Instead, it is an unfair and unearned benefit that is conferred solely based on the family that the applicant is born into.”
Elimination of the Policy
The practice highly damages the chances of applicants of color getting into these prestigious schools. The lawyers for civil rights also said that 70% of the legacy applicants to Harvard are white and that legacy applicants are 6 times more likely to be admitted.
No one is born with a school attached to their rights, yet this practice gives students a leg up into the most challenging institutions, solely because of their family history. These policies systematically disadvantage students of color, and with the court removing protections that came from affirmative action policies, it is imperative now that these policies are eliminated.
Everyone should have an equal opportunity for a college education, click here to see how you can prep for college, wherever you end up!
