Supreme Court to Revisit Race in School Admissions

In a move that may affect the lives and education of millions of Americans, The Washington Times reported today that the US Supreme Court will examine whether race can be used in school admissions decisions. More specifically, they will determine whether the Constitution’s promise of equality implicitly allows for affirmative action in admissions. And the court’s decision may depend on the newest member of the court—Justice Samuel Alito, Jr.—to provide a tiebreaker vote. It has been more than 50 years since the US Supreme Court first outlawed segregation in public schools, but the cases to be argued Monday will address questions left unanswered by Brown vs. Board of Education: Now that official segregation has ended, why have racial divides in education persisted? And what should the US government’s role be?

America Has Mixed Feelings About Affirmative Action

Civil activists are pitted against an administration that is decidedly against using racial ‘quotas’ in the admissions process. Most of America is divided over this issue. One the one hand, most people agree that a diverse nation should be reflected in a diverse education. However, one of the core principles of the American dream is “the best person for the job.” It will be a difficult task for the Supreme Court to reconcile these two ideals.

“The new [affirmative action] cases “put on the table, in a very clear way, the question of how far society, how far government, should go in terms of trying to promote diversity in education in America,” said Ellis Cose, the author of a study on affirmative action.
“The core issue of whether the government should be in the business of helping to promote diversity in some way in education is at the heart of all these cases,” he said.
The Bush administration is siding with parents against the school districts, arguing the policies are an unconstitutional, albeit well-meaning, “racial balancing” without a compelling justification.
“A well-intentioned quota is still a quota,” the administration said in a brief submitted on the Kentucky case.
Civil rights advocates said a ruling that bars schools from taking race into account would deal a devastating blow to the promotion of diversity in schools.”

The Stakes Are High

A lot is riding on the results of these cases. If the highest court in America issues a decree as to the unconstitutionality of quotas, a fundamental change would occur in admissions decisions that would not longer be able to weigh the issue of race in attempting to promote diversity on campus. Traditionally, “race-neutral” admissions often end up segregating schools and lowering the percentages of minorities in higher education. Currently, about 400 of America’s 15,000 school districts “are under court orders to de-segregate.” However, the Leadership on Civil Rights points out that if race could no longer be considered in admissions, it may be impossible for schools to de-segregate as they had been formerly ordered to do.

How Segregated Are Modern Schools, Really?

The Civil Rights Project at Harvard released a report in 2003 which described the lingering presence of “racial separation” in public schools, despite segregation being knocked down long ago. They reported that while whites comprised 58% of America’s public school enrollment, the average white student attended a school that was almost 80% white. The same held true for black students: they comprise 17% of all enrollment, but the average black student attended a school that was 58% black. However, it is difficult to achieve diversity in education when even the government isn’t so sure it’s the best thing for the students. Just last week the US Commission on Civil Rights, appointed by President Bush, said that they saw “little evidence that racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary schools results in significant improvements in academic performance.”

The US Supreme Court vs. Bush

There is some reason to hope that the Supreme Court will defy the Bush Administration’s wishes and support racial quotas in school admissions. Three years ago the court decided 5-4 that that an applicant’s race was one of several criteria a public university could consider in admissions, so perhaps they will apply the same logic to elementary and secondary schools. However, one of the key pro-affirmative action judges, Sandra Day O’Connor, has been replaced with a more conservative justice, Justice Alito. Alito has been quoted as saying he’s particularly proud of his work against, “racial and ethic quotas.” The ruling should be decided by June (yes, these court decisions really DO take that long!), so stay tuned.

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