Harvard reacts to Supreme Court affirmative action ruling: Diversity is ‘essential to academic excellence’

Harvard University responded to the Supreme Court’s ruling that the university’s admissions system was unconstitutional on Thursday, announcing in a statement that it will “certainly” comply with the decision.

Harvard’s leadership declared in the statement that “diversity and difference are essential to academic excellence,” and vowed to “preserve” the university’s essential values. The statement also highlighted a potential route by which Harvard could continue to account for race in admissions in some form.

“The Court held that Harvard College’s admissions system does not comply with the principles of the equal protection clause embodied in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” the statement read. “The Court also ruled that colleges and universities may consider in admissions decisions ‘an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.’ We will certainly comply with the Court’s decision.”

“We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences,” the statement continued. “That principle is as true and important today as it was yesterday. So too are the abiding values that have enabled us—and every great educational institution—to pursue the high calling of educating creative thinkers and bold leaders, of deepening human knowledge, and of promoting progress, justice, and human flourishing.”

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The statement indicates Harvard’s belief that it can still account for race in admissions in some form by asking students how or whether they believe their race has impacted their life.

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Thursday’s 6-3 rulings were split along traditional lines. Students for Fair Admissions, a student activist group, brought cases against both Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The group initially sued Harvard College in 2014 for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.”

The complaint against Harvard alleged that the school’s practices penalized Asian American students, and that they failed to employ race-neutral practices. The University of North Carolina case raised the issue of whether the university could reject the use of non-race-based practices without showing that they would bring down the school’s academic quality or negatively impact the benefits gained from campus diversity.

The court ruled for Students for Fair Admissions in both cases.