Although no one knows how Thursday’s Supreme Court decision to strike down a decades-long affirmative action precedent will affect the nation’s colleges and universities, Fordham University officials say they remain committed to fostering racial diversity in its student body.
The original precedent was set by the court case Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003, at which time the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that affirmative action practices — a race-conscious practice in college admissions — did not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
But on Thursday, the court decided in favor of Students for Fair Admissions in two separate lawsuits against Harvard College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), effectively making race-conscious admissions practices illegal in all public universities and private universities that use federal funds.
The Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit that believes racial classifications and preferences in college admissions are unfair, argued that affirmative action practices on the basis of race at Harvard and UNC were unfair.
The ruling comes at a time when, according to the Pew Research Center, 50% of American adults disapprove of selective colleges considering race and ethnicity in admissions, while just one-third approve of the practice.
Although it’s still unclear about the effect Thursday’s ruling will have on colleges and universities nationwide, political and academic leaders across the Bronx are dismayed by the court’s decision and have reaffirmed their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
One of the most expensive private universities in the Bronx, Fordham University — a Catholic Jesuit school — touts an educational experience that allows its students to gain “an understanding of and reverence for cultures and ways of life other than their own.”
According to its website, 40.6% of Fordham’s undergraduate students are from…
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