The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing higher education institutions to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.
The court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
Corey Best, the public relations director at Northern Kentucky University, said NKU doesn’t consider race as part of their admission process and it wouldn’t affect the university’s process.
“NKU does not consider race as a factor in its admissions decisions, so today’s case will not require a change to NKU’s process,” Best said. “We are studying the Court’s decision to determine its impact, if any, on other areas of campus, and we will comply with the law.”
Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long, universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
Justice Clarence Thomas — the nation’s second Black justice, who had long called for an end to affirmative action — wrote separately that the decision “sees the universities’ admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.”
Mark Sherman of the Associated Press contributed to this report.