Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Miguel Cardona claimed Sunday that ending legacy admissions, a mechanism by which children of alumni get preferential treatment within the admissions process, will not be enough to keep diversity among students at higher education institutions following a Supreme Court ruling blocking race-based affirmative action policies, according to Axios.
The Supreme Court decided in June that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s use of affirmative action admissions policies was unconstitutional, halting the practice across higher education institutions. Since the ruling, universities have been eliminating legacy admissions in an effort to increase diversity, a practice that Cardona told Axios won’t alone change “that there are Black and brown kids that now with this affirmative action decision are going to feel like they’re not wanted.” (RELATED: Universities Consider New Rankings To Skirt SCOTUS Ruling On Race-Based Admissions)
Universities, such as the University of Minnesota and Wesleyan University in Connecticut, have axed the use of legacy admissions in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action. The DOE opened a civil rights investigation on July 24 into Harvard University’s use of legacy admissions, following a complaint that alleged that the practice does not weigh merit and takes acceptance spots away from students of color.
Some universities are looking for other ways, such as essays and different recruiting processes, to continue to weigh race in the admissions process. Cardona told Axios that he fears colleges and universities will admit fewer black and brown students following the block of affirmative action practices.
US President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona leave after speaking about the US Supreme Court’s decision overruling student debt forgiveness as Education Secretary Miguel Cardona looks on in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 30, 2023. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
The DOE is currently working with education leaders to consider different ways higher education institutions can legally curb the Supreme Court’s ruling, Cardona told Axios. Cardona suggested to the outlet that in an effort to skirt the Supreme Court’s decision, others should promote historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), offering dual enrollment credits for first-generation college students and create better high school to college pipelines for K-12 students.
“We are in danger of a new Jim Crow era in some parts of this country,” Cardona said at a Saturday NAACP Convention in Boston, according to Axios.
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