The Departments of Education and Justice have published their guidance on the Supreme Court’s race-conscious admissions ruling, offering clarity to colleges and applicants about the post-affirmative action landscape.
Although the guidance, which takes the form of a Dear Colleague letter and a seven-page question and answer document, does not have the force of law, it still matters, according to Dr. Liliana Garces, the W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community College Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.
“It’s an important resource for institutions to really understand what the decision did and did not do,” she said.
The guidance is particularly crucial in an environment in which unofficial sources have sought to provide interpretations of the ruling, said Dr. Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education policy at Southern Methodist University. In July, Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court cases, sent an email to 150 colleges and universities, claiming that schools could not receive data about applicants’ races or even have any “definition or guidance” about underrepresented groups.
Dr. Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education
“Students should feel comfortable presenting their whole selves when applying for college,” the Dear Colleague letter said. According to the guidance, race and ethnicity can be considered, insofar as they relate to applicants’ lives.
“A university could consider an applicant’s explanation about what it means to him to be the first Black violinist in his city’s youth orchestra or an applicant’s account of overcoming prejudice when she transferred to a rural high school where she was the only student of South Asian descent,” the Q&A noted.
