Response to Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action
Dear Grinnell students, faculty, staff, and alumni,
The U.S. Supreme Court has released its findings and opinions in the cases of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFFA) v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina et al. These decisions reverse more than fifty years of work toward racial equity in education and will change how applications for admission are evaluated at colleges and universities across the nation. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson named the impact of this decision in her dissenting opinion: “If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us. And, ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.” Grinnell College’s commitment to diversity preceded affirmative action and remains undeterred; it is significantly challenged by the decisions of the Supreme Court today, but it is undeterred.
The community that we create with each new class of Grinnellians is impactful because it encompasses difference. Knowing that this decision was before the court for the past year, the College has been reviewing a range of alternatives to considering race as a part of our holistic admission process. We are in a strong position to analyze the decision, understand how to interpret it, and move forward given the Court’s ruling. We are grateful to the faculty, staff, and students of the Admission and Student Financial Aid Committee (ASFAC) and the many other partners whose work has helped the College prepare.
Affirming the values of academic excellence, a diverse community, and social responsibility, Grinnell has signed an Open Letter from the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance that outlines crucial issues raised by the Supreme Court’s decisions in the context of liberal arts education.
The repercussions of these decisions are far-reaching and of historic proportion. Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent states the situation plainly, “Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal. What was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality."
As we chart a course following these decisions, we will be guided by our standards of academic excellence and our values of diversity, inclusion, and equity. We remain more committed than ever to being a College beholden to those principles and practices that foster a multi-racial democracy as we move forward in Grinnell’s educational mission. We are motivated and resolved by Justice Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion statement that, “The only way out of this morass—for all of us—is to stare at racial disparity unblinkingly, and then do what evidence and experts tell us is required to level the playing field and march forward together, collectively striving to achieve true equality for all Americans.”
We will continue to keep you all apprised of next steps, key decisions, and opportunities for partnerships across campus – and beyond – to help us realize Grinnell as the distinctive and diverse community that we hold dear.
Sincerely,
Anne F. Harris
President
Joseph Bagnoli, Jr.
Vice President for Enrollment, Dean of Admission & Financial Aid