The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) often releases controversial opinions before going on summer recess. This term will be no different, as the two affirmative action cases involving Harvard and UNC will be released in just a few weeks. The predicted outcome would overturn decades of established practices in an effort to end “reverse” discrimination, but most agree little will change after the decision. Schools will simply pivot, changing the names of what are in effect quotas, and continue the status quo to prevent the public shame of having only Asian and White students. It is similar to what schools did in the South and suburbia nationwide after Brown v. BoE in 1954. Ventura County has its own history with forced integration, but that is another story.
As the tone of this letter suggests, I believe the decisions will be a favorable change to the admissions landscape, regardless of implementation. Court observers often reference Chief Justice Roberts’ 2007 line “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” which despite its naivete rings true. Bias, conscious or otherwise, will always exist in human societies, but one way to tamp down its effects is to remove government coercion from the equation.
I hope, however foolishly, that a downstream effect of the decisions will be an decrease of racial guilt promoted by public and private schools alike. Caucasians and light-skinned people of color ought not carry cultural shame for decisions made by their ancestors generations ago. The sins of the father are not passed to the son.
