NADOHE Applauds the U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Uphold Race-Conscious Admissions in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin

On Thursday, June 23, in a 4 - 3 opinion, the United States Supreme Court held that the race-conscious admissions program in use at the time of the petitioner's (Abigail Fisher) application to University of Texas, Austin is lawful under the Equal Protection Clause.  The Court referred to its opinion in Fisher I as setting "out three controlling principles relevant to assessing the constitutionality of a public university's affirmative action program."  An admission's program that considers race as a factor in the process, must "withstand strict scrutiny."  The Court affirmed that "the decision to pursue the educational benefits that flow from student body diversity is, in substantial measure, an academic judgment to which some, but not complete, judicial deference is proper." Third, when "determining whether the use of race is narrowly tailored to achieve the university's permissible goals, the school bears the burden of demonstrating that 'available' and 'workable'  'race-neutral alternatives' do not suffice." 
 

NADOHE strongly supports the Supreme Court's earlier affirmation of the precedent that recognized the compelling interest of having a diverse student body and the educational benefits that are derived from such diversity.  The Court reminds us all that while the University admissions process was indeed constitutional at the time of Fisher's application, there is still a "continuing obligation to satisfy the strict scrutiny burden: by periodically reassessing the admission program's constitutionality, and efficacy, in light of the school's experience and the data it has gathered since adopting its admissions plan, and by tailoring its approach to ensure that race plays no greater role than is necessary to meet its compelling interests." 

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) serves as the preeminent voice for diversity officers in higher education. Its vision is to lead higher education towards inclusive excellence through institutional transformation. NADOHE has more than 600 institutional and individual members. For more information, please call 561-472-8479 or visit www.nadohe.org.