This week, a federal judge in Boston upheld the admissions system used by Harvard University, saying it does not discriminate against Asian-Americans. To many observers, this came as no surprise. Supreme Court precedent has been clear since 1978: Colleges and universities may consider race and ethnicity as one factor among many in composing a diverse student body. That’s how the Harvard system worked, and that’s why Judge Allison Burroughs upheld it.
The affirmative action opponents who brought the suit have announced their intent to appeal Judge Burroughs’ decision, but there’s reason to doubt it will make its way to the Supreme Court. The high court typically hears cases in which it must resolve a conflict between different circuit courts. Because the precedent is clear, there is no circuit conflict. She found, like the Supreme Court has in recent decisions, that student body diversity is a compelling interest and that Harvard’s program was narrowly tailored to accomplish that goal.
But regardless of what today’s Supreme Court might do, I would argue that it’s time for us to move beyond the decades-old arguments about the merits of affirmative action programs. The most salient point about these programs, I believe, was made by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for the court in the 2003 University of Michigan Grutter decision, of which I was a part: “In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry,” she wrote, “it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.”
So let’s focus on how we can create a path to leadership that is visibly open to all individuals.
The reality today is that affirmative action in admissions is a factor at only a small number of America’s colleges and for a smaller number of America’s college students. Almost exclusively, those are the country’s most selective institutions, and even there, many fewer report considering race in admissions than did a decade ago.
Our great challenge is to ensure that qualified students of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply for college and ready for the experience, so that they’ll succeed once they’re there. Which means we need well-designed early-college programs, proactive college counselors, especially in our underserved communities, after-school programs, and summer programs. This includes mentorship, especially for first-generation college families. This includes colleges working with high schools and families to help students navigate the application admissions and aid process. This means casting a wide net for recruitment and outreach. And this means corporate, government and philanthropic support for all of these initiatives, because these students represent the future for these organizations.
As our country’s population becomes more diverse, we need to recognize young people from diverse backgrounds as an extraordinary talent pool that will play an indisputable role in America’s continuing leadership. I now lead one of the more socioeconomically and racially diverse private universities in the country, Pace University, and I can tell you we relearn every fall that our outstanding students don’t just bring different backgrounds and cultures to our campus, they also bring vibrancy and academic ambition to their classrooms.
Colleges and universities also need to think creatively about what they can do to ensure students have academic support. They should invest in their local K–12 schools, which is one of the many reasons we created Pace High School in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and New Visions for Public Schools. Community colleges and universities need to collaborate to build new pathways for talented students to succeed.
And employers, who recognize the value of a diverse workforce, should redouble their efforts to recruit at all colleges to find all talented potential employees.
Ultimately, the challenge facing us is to figure out how to prepare and support students of all backgrounds. By focusing on proactively building pathways for all talented students, we can achieve our real goal: creating opportunities for all students of all backgrounds at all our colleges and universities.
Krislov, the president of Pace University, was vice president and general counsel of the University of Michigan in 2003, when the Supreme Court upheld the importance of student body diversity in Grutter vs. Bollinger.
