Reference no: EM133599447

Question

In the most recent case looking at Affirmative Action in the higher education context, the Supreme Court essentially ruled this summer that colleges and universities may not explicitly take race into consideration when making admissions decisions because diversity in the classroom because it violates the Equal Protection Clause. The Court stated:

Because Harvard's and UNC's admissions programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points, those admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause. At the same time, nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected the applicant's life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university. Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nation's constitutional history does not tolerate that choice. This is, of course, not in the employment context, but do you think the ruling will have indirect effects on the workplace?