September 24, 2023
Chicago 12, Melborne City, USA
Equity

Facing a future without affirmative action, students of color say the pressure is on them to fight for diversity: ‘To be going backwards in this sort of immense way is really scary’

Facing a future without affirmative action, students of color say the pressure is on them to fight for diversity: 'To be going backwards in this sort of immense way is really scary'
People rally in support of affirmative action in college admissions as arguments start on the cases at the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill on Monday, Oct 31, 2022 in Washington, DC.
People rally in support of affirmative action in college admissions as arguments start on the cases at the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill on Monday, Oct 31, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

  • The Supreme Court ruled to overturn race-based affirmative action on Thursday, June 29.
  • Affirmative action has been used to pit Asian Americans against other communities of color, experts said.
  • In the face of the setback, students of color are gearing up to fight for diversity on their campuses.

The Supreme Court ruled to end race-based affirmative action on Thursday, June 29.

In a majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts in cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the court’s six conservative justices agreed that the methodologies used on college campuses to comply with affirmative action sometimes boiled down to racial stereotyping.

“By grouping together all Asian students, for instance, respondents are apparently uninterested in whether South Asian or East Asian students are adequately represented, so long as there is enough of one to compensate for a lack of the other,” Roberts wrote.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that the court’s majority failed to understand the critical role race plays in society.

“Today, this Court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress,” Sotomayor wrote. “The Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.”

A second chance for students of color

While the ruling was widely expected, the decision will have crucial implications on diversity and education in America, according to experts. Many education experts say the decision is likely to not only lead to changes in who is admitted to colleges but also jeopardize initiatives and programs aimed at reaching underrepresented racial and ethnic groups for scholarships and recruitment.

“Affirmative action provides a second chance for students of color,” Stewart Kwoh, co-executive director of the Asian American Education Project, told Insider. “It allows race to be one of many factors to be considered in their admission to universities.”

In the face of the destabilizing effects of rolling back affirmative action, students of color are shoring up to ensure diversity at their schools.

“There’s so many things we have to do for equity, and to be going backwards in this sort of immense way is really scary,” Muskaan Arshad, a rising junior at Harvard, said. “We need to keep fighting to change the narrative around affirmative action.”

Harvard Camous

Charles Krupa/AP

A sense of belonging

The cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina were first filed in 2014 by Students for Fair Admissions, an anti-affirmative organization. They argued that the universities discriminated against white and Asian students by giving preference to Black, Hispanic, and Native American applicants.

In response, the universities said race-conscious affirmative action creates a more diverse learning environment. The court’s conservative supermajority voiced skepticism of this claim during the October hearing.

But students at these schools also said that affirmative action has been a “crucial” part of their learning experience. Having attended a high school with a 1% Black student population, Sarah Zhang, now a rising junior at the University of North Carolina, said she didn’t hear about any stories about the Black American experience growing up. It wasn’t until she went to college that she was exposed to more firsthand perspectives about what it’s like to be Black in America — something that has shaped her worldview.

“When we have diverse classrooms and learning spaces, it benefits everyone, because we’re hearing different stories and perspectives,” Zhang, who founded the school’s Affirmative Action Coalition, told Insider.

A diverse student body ensures there are unique perspectives outside the classroom, too. Arshad, a rising junior at Harvard, said she frequently attends cultural events, like a native Mexican dance performance her friend was in, and celebrates holidays from other cultures, like Shabbat.

The diversity that affirmative action safeguards also can create a sense of belonging for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

“I used to lighten my skin before because I didn’t feel safe and felt like I needed to assimilate. Coming to a diverse place like Harvard really shaped my identity and how I felt in my own skin,” Arshad, who grew up in a predominantly white town, said.

Proponents for affirmative action in higher education rally in front of the US Supreme Court on October 31, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Proponents for affirmative action in higher education rally in front of the US Supreme Court on October 31, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

‘On the wrong side of history’

The fight over affirmative action comes at a time when policymakers have severely curtailed education programs surrounding diversity.

Schools across the country have banned books dealing with issues of race and racism. Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Education rejected the AP African American studies course, which included topics like intersectionality and Black queer studies

At the same time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill mandating Asian American and Pacific Islander studies in schools, a move that critics condemned as using Asian American communities as a “wedge” against other communities of color.

“When you advance a bill that uplifts AAPI communities, but don’t want to acknowledge the fact that in the same state, there are real intentional efforts to invisiblize or erase Black history, or [critical race theory], you are on the wrong side of history,” Gregg Orton, national director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, told NBC News. “Racial justice can’t be a zero-sum game for communities of color.”

Affirmative action has similarly become a landscape in which Asian Americans have been used as a wedge against Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities, according to experts and student activists. 

Studies have shown that Asian Americans actually benefit from affirmative action. According to new survey data, 69% of Asian Americans support affirmative action.

“False narratives such as honorary whiteness and the model minority myth are being weaponized against other groups of color and against Asian Americans themselves,” Reyna Patel, a student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, said. “It erases the struggles that Asian Americans face, the uniqueness of their identity, and how they experience the world because of it.”

Supreme Court affirmative action
Harvard students Shruthi Kumar, left, and Muskaan Arshad, join a rally with other activists as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

A future without affirmative action

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned affirmative action, students of color are banding together to preserve diversity on their campuses.

Student-led organizations like the Affirmative Action Coalition at the University of North Carolina and the Coalition for a Diverse Harvard will continue to host events and panels to help fight misinformation and share information on the benefits of diversity at schools. They’re also hosting workshops on how to get involved in student government, which meets with school administration and controls much of the funding for diversity, according to Arshad and Zhang.

“We plan to fight the misunderstandings on our campuses and within our own communities with the truth that affirmative action and diversity benefits everyone,” Zhang said.

Despite the setback, students remain determined to continue to fight for diversity and equity at their schools.

“At the end of the day, I see affirmative action as an institutional resource,” Agustin Leon-Saenz, a rising junior at Harvard, said. “Without that, the students of color at our universities will have to do the heavy work. And that only motivates me more.”

Read the original article on Business Insider

This content was originally published here.

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