US President Donald Trump’s administration said the government would no longer encourage schools to use race as a factor in the admissions process, rescinding former US president Barack Obama-era guidance meant to promote diversity among students.
The shift announced on Tuesday gives colleges the federal government’s blessing to leave race out of admissions and enrollment decisions, and underscores the contentious politics that for decades have surrounded affirmation action policies, which have repeatedly been challenged before the US Supreme Court.
The Obama administration memos encouraging schools to take race into account were among 24 policy documents revoked by the US Department of Justice for being “unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper.”
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the changes were an effort to restore the “rule of law,” although civil rights groups decried the move and some universities said they intend to continue their diversity efforts as before.
The action comes amid a high-profile court fight over Harvard University admissions that has attracted the government’s attention, as well as a Supreme Court turnover expected to produce a more critical eye toward schools’ race-conscious admissions policies.
The court’s most recent significant ruling on the subject bolstered colleges’ use of race among many factors in the admission process.
However, the opinion’s author, Anthony Kennedy, announced his retirement last week, giving Trump a chance to replace him with a justice who might be more reliably skeptical of admissions programs that take race into account.
The new policy dramatically departs from the stance of the Obama administration, which said schools could consider race in admissions decisions.
In one 2011 policy document, the administration said courts had recognized schools’ “compelling interest” in ensuring racially diverse populations on campuses.
“Institutions are not required to implement race-neutral approaches if, in their judgment, the approaches would be unworkable,” the guidance said. “In some cases, race-neutral approaches will be unworkable because they will be ineffective to achieve the diversity the institution seeks.”
That guidance has now been rescinded, as have about a half-dozen similar documents, including some that sought to explain court rulings affirming the use of race to make admissions decisions.
In one such document, the Obama administration said: “As the Supreme Court has recognized, diversity has benefits for all students, and today’s students must be prepared to succeed in a diverse society and an increasingly global workforce.”
The Trump administration’s announcement is more in line with Bush-era policy that discouraged affirmative action and instead encouraged the use of race-neutral alternatives, like percentage plans and economic diversity programs.
Although such guidance does not have the force of law, schools could presumably use it to defend themselves against lawsuits.
The US Department of Justice had already signaled concern about the use of race in admissions decisions.
For instance, it sided this year with Asian-American plaintiffs who contend in a lawsuit against Harvard that the school unlawfully limits how many Asians are admitted.
Students for Fair Admissions, the group suing Harvard, is led by Ed Blum, a legal strategist who also helped white student Abigail Fisher sue the University of Texas for alleged discrimination.
The organization “welcomes any governmental actions that will eliminate racial classifications and preferences in college admissions,” Blum said.
Meanwhile, Harvard said it would continue considering race to create a “diverse campus community where students from all walks of life have the opportunity to learn with and from each other.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The