Cases & Developments

Database from the American Council on Education (ACE) of Post-SFFA v. Harvard & UNC Decision Resources. This new website will house “a variety of external articles, tools, research, analyses, and other materials that may be of interest” as institutions consider their policies, practices, and initiatives following the Supreme Court’s decision.  

U.S. Department of Education Report on “Strategies for Increasing Diversity and Opportunity in Higher Education. The report calls on college and university leaders to take action to promote diversity and opportunity in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina et al. It considers strategies leaders implement in the areas of recruitment, admissions, affordability, and retention and completion.   

Joint Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. University of North Carolina.  In the joint DCL, the Departments “reaffirm [their] commitment to ensuring that educational institutions remain open to all, regardless of race.”  The Departments also released a related Questions and Answers Regarding the Supreme Court’s Decision in Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard College and University of North Carolina with information about the Court’s decision, ways in which institutions of higher education may and may not consider an applicant’s race in admissions, and other steps an institution may take to achieve student body diversity. 

Opinion and Order reversing the judgments of the First Circuit and Middle District of North Carolina.  Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA), a nonprofit membership organization whose members believe that “racial classifications and preferences in college admissions are unfair, unnecessary, and unconstitutional,” sued Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, challenging their admissions practices under the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI.  In reversing the judgments of the lower courts, the Supreme Court held that Universities’ admissions programs violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Without explicitly overruling Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) the Court held that “[b]oth programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points.”