Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Friday banning legacy admissions at public colleges in the state.
Several states have moved to eliminate legacy admissions, which are admissions based on prior familial attendance to a school, after the fall of race-based admissions at the Supreme Court in June 2023. The bill passed the Virginia Senate with bipartisan support, 39-0, and passed the state’s House of Delegates 99-0, and has now been signed by Youngkin.
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A federal judge ruled Thursday against an injunction that would have temporarily halted the Naval Academy’s race-based admissions policies, according to Reuters.
Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed a lawsuit against West Point in September and launched a second against the Naval Academy in October after winning two cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina on the same issue at the Supreme Court in June. U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett, however, ruled against SFFA’s request for an injunction, claiming that he felt the group had not proven the military’s use of race-based admissions for its academies was discriminatory, according to Reuters.
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On Tuesday, an anti-affirmative action group filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point over its race-based admissions process in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning such practices.
As reported by Axios, the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by Students for Fair Admissions (SFA), the same advocacy group that ultimately ended affirmative action through two cases it had filed before the Supreme Court, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. In both cases, SFA successfully argued that affirmative action unfairly benefits black and Hispanic students, while disproportionately discriminating against White and Asian students.
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The group responsible for the nationwide overturning of affirmative action has dropped its lawsuit challenging the race-based admissions policies of Yale University.
According to Politico, Students for Fair Admissions (SFA) came to an agreement with the Ivy League school in which they would voluntarily drop their lawsuit, in exchange for Yale making several changes to its admissions policies prior to the Fall 2023 undergraduate application season.
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Several 2024 Republican presidential candidates praised the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday for striking down affirmative action in college admissions via two cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
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Ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of affirmative action in universities’ admissions process, 50% of Americans are opposed to the race-based method, according to a Thursday Pew Research poll.
Approximately 74% of Republicans disapprove of the use of affirmative action while 29% of Democrats also disapprove of the race-based admissions process, according to a Pew Research poll. In October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two lawsuits which will decide whether Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s use of race-based admission policies is constitutional.
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Universities are searching for ways to maintain racial quotas ahead of a likely Supreme Court decision blocking affirmative action.
With the Supreme Court soon to issue a ruling in a pair of cases questioning the constitutionality of affirmative action, which multiple justices appeared ready to rule against during oral arguments, universities are developing plans to maintain the current racial composition of their student bodies without explicitly using racial preferences in the admissions process. Schools have floated ideas such as making testing optional, giving greater weight to students’ socio-economic backgrounds and recruiting based on geographic area.
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With the United States Supreme Court set to rule against race-based admissions policies, colleges are looking for news ways to continue to factor race when admitting students, according to Axios.
In October, after hearing oral arguments against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s use of affirmative action in their admissions processes, the Supreme Court showed favor towards ruling against the use of race-conscious admissions policies. In the event that the Supreme Court rules against the admissions practices, universities may axe standardized tests, which schools argue discriminate against minority students, according to Axios.
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A Virginia parent won a legal victory when a Fairfax County judge dismissed four charges of libel and slander with prejudice Friday.
Harry Jackson, a former PTA president of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology who opposed changes to the school’s admissions policy, was facing libel and slander charges in the wake of claiming that a proponent of the new admissions policies exhibited “grooming behavior” on social media. The new policies, which critics have characterized as “race-based,” eliminated standardized testing requirements and were found by a federal judge to discriminate against Asian Americans.
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North Carolina’s flagship public university is under legal fire for the allegedly over-use of race-based admissions policies. Specifically, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is being accused of over-selecting minorities in their admissions and related policies. Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA), a non-profit based in Virginia, filed a motion for summary judgment against UNC-Chapel Hill in January. “UNC’s use of race is the opposite of individualized; UNC uses race mechanically to ensure the admission of the vast majority of underrepresented minorities,” says the SFFA motion. UNC-Chapel Hill responded to the motion in their own brief, stating that the school has a “longstanding commitment to diversity.” “In its academic judgment, the university has determined that pursuing the educational benefits of diversity is integral to fulfilling its mission to prepare the next generation of leaders,” said UNC-Chapel Hill’s response. In addition to filing suit, a dedicated website called uncnotfair.org has been set up by SFFA. “Were You Denied Admission to the University of North Carolina? It may be because you’re the wrong race,” the website’s front page reads. SFFA’s plaintiff is an unnamed white male from North Carolina who applied for and was denied admission for the Fall of 2014.…
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