November 16, 2022
Page 9
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o
piNioN
Tell the Supreme Court: We Still Need Affirmative Action
One of the great joys of my life is
teaching. I’m fortunate to teach classes on
social justice at the University of Pennsyl-
vania, one of the most respected schools
in the country. Penn has a longstanding
commitment to affirmative action, and
I have seen first-hand how diversity in
the classroom benefits all my students.
There’s just no question that diversity is a
core piece of a vibrant academic commu-
nity and a critical part of the learning ex-
perience – for all of us. Bringing together
students with different lived experiences
forces students to think critically about
their assumptions, which is an essential
goal of a university education.
That’s why I, like so many of us, am
deeply concerned about two affirmative
action cases argued at the Supreme Court
just a few days ago. Opponents of affir-
mative action have been trying to destroy
it for years. And now it looks like they
just might get their chance.
Two universities, Harvard and the
University of North Carolina (UNC),
are defending their admissions programs
against opponents who want them de-
clared unconstitutional. (The university
where I teach, Penn, and the organization
I lead, People For the American Way,
have both joined briefs supporting the
universities’ positions.) Considering race
as one of many factors in admissions has
been upheld by the Supreme Court for
decades. The Court has said repeatedly
that diversity in higher education is a
“compelling interest.”
Ben Jealous
But today’s Supreme Court is differ-
ent. It’s dominated by far-right justices
who have made it clear they don’t share
this view. Chief Justice John Roberts’s
famous quote, "The way to stop discrim-
ination on the basis of race is to stop dis-
criminating on the basis of race,” sums
it up: conservatives believe affirmative
action is at best unnecessary and at worst
just another type of discrimination. Some
conservatives would like to retire affir-
mative action because they claim it’s
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accomplished everything it set out to do.
But it hasn’t. Not even close.
In Texas and Michigan, applications
and enrollments of Black and Lati-
no students plunged after state politi-
cians banned the consideration of race
in admission to their public universi-
ties. That’s a huge red flag. Nationally,
there’s a big gap between the percentage
of White and Black students who earn a
bachelor’s degree. And that perpetuates
all kinds of harm and inequities in in-
come, health, family wealth, and more.
We still have a long way to go in building
a fair society in which all our children
can thrive.
And here’s an important point that
often gets lost. All students—no matter
their race or color or creed—benefit from
affirmative action. Having diverse class-
mates promotes a stimulating exchange
of ideas and viewpoints. It prepares all
students for living and working in our in-
creasingly diverse society. The Supreme
Court as a whole used to understand that.
Today, I worry that only a minority of the
justices do.
One of those justices is Ketanji Brown
Jackson, the first Black woman on the
Court and a person of profound insight
and wisdom. Her questions in oral ar-
guments got to the heart of the matter.
Imagine two qualified students applying
to UNC, Justice Jackson suggested: a
White North Carolinian
student whose family members had
attended the school for generations, and
a Black North Carolinian whose family
had historically been shut out. The White
applicant might make the case that at-
tending UNC is deeply meaningful to
her because it is a family tradition. The
Black applicant might make the case that
it is deeply meaningful because her fam-
ily was so long denied.
Jackson’s question made it clear what
would happen if the Court adopts the Far
Right’s position: the White student’s ap-
peal to family history would be allowed
to help their chance of acceptance, while
the Black student’s would not. It would
further institutionalize discrimination
and the harm it has caused generations of
Black Americans.
I am so grateful for Justice Jackson’s
voice on the Court. I also know that the
six right-wing justices expressed skep-
ticism of affirmative action at oral ar-
guments. Many reporters are already
writing its obituary. I hope for the sake
of our education system and our next
generation, that they will be wrong. The
“compelling interest” that led the Court
to uphold affirmative action in the past
still exists – in fact, it may be stronger
than ever.
Ben Jealous serves as president of
People For the American Way and Pro-
fessor of the Practice at the Universi-
ty of Pennsylvania. A New York Times
best-selling author, his next book "Never
Forget Our People Were Always Free"
will be published by Harper Collins in
January 2023.