The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently revealed plan to investigate and sue colleges that wrongly use race in college admissions is a scare tactic meant to dissuade colleges from using race as one of many factors, as permitted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
That is the collective take of several scholars and advocates who reacted to a story of the Justice Department’s purported plans broken by The New York Times late Tuesday.
“It’s an intimidation strategy that seeks to bypass what the Supreme Court has already ruled on and turns enforcement of equal protection on its head because it makes just thinking about race, or acknowledging that racial inequities exist, the same as racial discrimination,” said Dr. Liliana Garces, assistant professor of education at the University of Texas School of Law and an expert on equity and access in higher education.
“The message is to intimidate and prevent institutions from continuing to follow what the Supreme Court has already endorsed as constitutionally permissible for institutions to further their educational mission,” Garces said in an e-mail to Diverse.
Garces was referring to the 2016 case — generally known as Fisher II — in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of race in college admissions as long as it’s a small part of a holistic process.
Wednesday evening, however, the Justice Department issued a statement to clarify its position:
“Press reports regarding the personnel posting in the Civil Rights Division have been inaccurate. The posting sought volunteers to investigate one administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that the prior Administration left unresolved. The complaint alleges racial discrimination against Asian Americans in a university’s admissions policy and practices. This Department of Justice has not received or issued any directive, memorandum, initiative, or policy related to university admissions in general. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-based discrimination.”
