Supreme Court bans affirmative action in college admissions

Speaking of legacy admissions, in page 100 of the decision Thomas makes a pretty big dig at Jackson for posing hypothetical example with racial stereotypes. Those two must really dislike each other.

I wouldn't like a corrupt stooge for billionaires who comes to power thanks in part to affirmative action and then deliberately misreads the purpose of the 14th amendment to slam the door on those trying to follow in his footsteps either

His experience with affirmative action

By ScottB
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:26pm

Was a major influence in the evolution of his views. It's why you see him write things like "stamp minorities with a badge of inferiority" in his opinions on racial preferences.

"Evolution of His Views"

By Pete X
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:52pm

Nice way to say affirmative action for me but not for thee. He's corrupt to the very end.

Not really

By ScottB
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 2:17pm

He has basically said that it was humiliating when (white) people would express surprise at his abilities in spite of having been admitted as a product of affirmative action. He kept his Yale Law diploma in his basement (and not on the wall of his office) because of his experiences there.

Part of his view, like it or not, is that affirmative action ultimately ends up in lowered expectations for minorities and this leads to worsened race relations.

yeah, that’s not what AA is or what it does

By berkleealum
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 2:24pm

in the same way that AA doesn’t look down on women who want to be homemakers.

he is unwittingly complaining about people who twist the logic of AA to fit their existing worldview. ironically, these are the people Thomas has spent his professional career sucking up to.

it is exactly as Pete X described: “AA for me and not for thee”

Legacy Admissions are

By Don't Panic
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 11:28pm

Legacy Admissions are Affirmative Action for the rich.

Great news for mediocre legacies

By TownieTrash
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 10:56am

Mom and dad won’t have to donate the Jeff Koons bubble bauble in the Nantucket house to the art museum so you can go to sociopath finishing school, I mean HBS.

Or HLS

By Rwgfy
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:18pm

Or HLS

Also

By lbb
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:59pm

...they won't have to pretend to be athletes, either.

End legacy admissions

By anon
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 11:06am

At Ivy league schools and the number of minorities and females will remain the same.

Legacy Admissions

By BostonDog
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:14pm

Many of the legacy admission students are minorities.

People tend to discuss "minority" as a codeword for poor. They aren't always the same.

i think

By berkleealum
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:30pm

anon is (correctly) noting that legacy admission is just another, less controversial form of affirmative action

Ah

By BostonDog
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:33pm

I see your point.

Legacies...

By Friartuck
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:16pm

Aren't exclusive to the Ivies. Know your subject matter before firing from the anonymous peanut gallery.

Idk about that

By anon
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:58pm

There’s more women than men at Ivy League schools

I may be off here but…

By Pete Nice
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 11:27am

Does Harvard really need the federal government to be involved at all with the college? Seems like they are in financial shape to just finance their own tuition programs or simply require students to find alternate sources of aid.

Tuition...

By Bob Leponge
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 11:36am

Tuition is 21% of Harvard's income stream.

Harvard gets tons of federal money

By ScottB
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 11:44am

It isn't just student aid, but also research grants from NIH/NSF and probably another dozen agencies I can't think of. And it's not just undergraduates -- federal money pays to support students in many of the graduate schools as well.

So it’s not worth it…

By Pete Nice
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 3:46pm

For Ivy League schools and other top private institutions (I do think Cornell is attached to NY State in many east) to just say FU we don’t need your grants?

And I don’t see how this has any impact on admissions. Can colleges just look at things other than grades and scores? Don’t they already do?

Seems like they can just change some admissions policies and work to do whatever they want to do. Hell each Ivy League football football team lets all sorts of kids in for non academic reasons. And I’m talking 100 kids per school and that’s just one sport. Can’t they do the same with specific majors or schools?

You do not understand

By ScottB
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 4:44pm

Grants from the federal government cover an enormous part of the costs of running Harvard and any other large research university. For Harvard it's 11% of revenue but that's over half a billion dollars annually.

There are only a handful of institutions which could eat that kind of budget impact financially, and it would also negatively affect their ability to recruit faculty since there is prestige involved with grant programs from NIH/NSF/etc.

Ok I get that…

By Pete Nice
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 5:41pm

But if 200 (or more) top colleges got together and said they aren’t accepting federal aid…..would that impact things….? Even the republicans would be on board with that.

I guess my next question is how long have these great colleges and universities depended on the government for grants and assistance.

No

By ScottB
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 6:53pm

Because the SCOTUS decision bans affirmative action based on the 14th Amendment; i.e. it would be unconstitutional for the federal government to provide any aid to institutions which discriminate on the basis of race.

Besides, there are maybe a dozen private colleges and universities with endowments which might allow them to eschew all forms of government aid, including student aid. And for all but maybe the top five, it wouldn't be sustainable since the annual cost would likely be greater than the average annual growth/income from the endowment.

Looking forward

By Michael
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 11:48am

to Justice Thomas turning in his Holy Cross degree

Without AA, Anita wouldn't have been SA'd

By Friartuck
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:24pm

By Clarence.

He Should Be Stripped of It

By Steven D
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:40pm

As a HC alum (Class of 2009), I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in Mr. Thomas today, as expected as this is from him. I will write to HC President Vincent Rougeau to strongly encourage him to both withdraw the school’s recognition of his studies there and to not obey this ruling, which flies in the face of decades of American legal precedent and our Jesuit values, which Mr. Thomas clearly lacks due to his selfishness and total lack of good character.

Holy Cross, and the Jesuit values on which it stands, calls on us to be men and women for others. I was changed into a better person thanks to my 4 years there. I hope that the actions of Mr. Thomas do not do any lasting harm to our great institution here in Central Massachusetts.

Next goes AA for housing, banking, etc

By Friartuck
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:15pm

Then it's an amplification of the already hostile LGBTQI+ environment.

I'm guessing that by 2024, registered democrats or those from families of registered democrats won't even be welcome in Florida, Texas, etc public colleges and universities.

Lucky us

By Kaz
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:19pm

By 2024, public institutions in places like Florida and Texas will be the laughingstock of the world.

Intelligent Democrats will be sending their kids to European institutions anyways for the free education instead of emptying their coffers for a BA from Whatsamatta U here in the states at this rate. Some already are.

I dunno, I guess we’ll find out

By robo
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:13pm

However, any intelligent democrat knows for sure not to send their kid to BPS.

Colleges have gotten out of control cost-wise. How anyone sends their kid to college without going bankrupt is beyond me.

Considering the hallmark of

By TownieTrash
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:38pm

Considering the hallmark of the modern Democratic Party is feel good neoliberalism for the lower upper class and an abandonment of the working poor I’m not surprised they’re bigots avoiding public education.

While well-intentioned

By ScottB
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 2:59pm

Government-sponsored student loan programs are one of the key drivers in the escalation of the cost of higher education. Rather than putting the burden of managing costs on colleges and universities, easily obtainable student loans shift the onus of those costs to students and their families.

Time to move to Canada for

By Rwgfy
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 12:27pm

Time to move to Canada for real this time.

No, Troll

By Pete X
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 1:10pm

As the current court has zero legitimacy due to republican shenanigans, it's time to get rid of the corrupt members on the court, establish an ethics code with real teeth and expand the court to counteract the judges appointed via highly questionable means.

...but you can feel free to move to Canada.

So that the following

By ChrisF
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 5:48pm

So that the following administration can expand it further? At some point, it loses all meaning.

At some point…

By Pete X
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 6:29pm

But we’re nowhere near there. Right now, six overlords, three who were appointed by a man who literally encouraged a coup against our democracy, are legislating our rights away from the bench.

Show that

By cybah
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 8:23pm

Show & flex that privilege.

I despise people who spew this when times get tough. What a way to show you have the ability to move and pay Canada the obnoxious amount of money they want for an American to immigrate to Canada.

But you do you.. the rest of the unprivileged folks can just sink. Thanks! God Bless Americans.

Food for thought

By Sammy White
Thu, 06/29/2023 - 8:37pm

For many reasons I think this ruling is wrong, and 2 of those seats are stolen, but from a stolid Democrat, I wanted to offer a different perspective,

My son is Asian and applying to med school. Over the last several years, med school admissions (look at the data) are skewed towards female, black and Hispanic. The MCAT scores are lower for those groups as an admission threshold, this isn’t politics, this is published on the AAMC site.

So take my son, who worked every summer, did research, got an award, taught a class, worked as a medical assistant every summer and studied his butt off for a good score ( in the Asian threshold) for the MCAT, but despite all this, someone who got a low score of a different race has a better shot at getting in (even better if not straight)

I truly believe in diversity, and representation, band does one score a few points higher make someone a better doctor? If you say no, then does that mean the amount of pigment in their skin does?

College isn’t a meritocracy but maybe for high competition professions, it should be race and need blind until after the decision to accept is made.

And yes legacy admits should be mixed also.

Easy way is over

By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 06/30/2023 - 7:54am

If Harvard really believes that diversity is important in its student body, it will have to try harder than putting a race check-box on its applications now.

Say, I heard that Harvard has a school of education. Maybe they could found some lab schools in historically Black neighborhoods and help raise up some qualified applicants?

Too hard?

wonderful idea

By berkleealum
Fri, 06/30/2023 - 10:57am

Boston residents boast a rich history of support for academia lined with respect and admiration for their Harvard educated peers. Just look at how well the Mayor’s ideas are received for a brief example

Supreme Court bans affirmative action in college admissions

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