BY CAROLYN JONES AND MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN | CalMatters
For students of color, the Supreme Court’s recent ban on affirmative action has left them frustrated but undaunted as they plow through college application season. Some California private colleges, meanwhile, are increasing their outreach efforts to attract more students and send a signal that the end of race-based admissions doesn’t change their belief in the importance of diversity.
“I want to go to a college where I feel comfortable and supported and confident. So yes, the ruling has definitely affected what schools I’m looking at,” said Maya Murchison, a senior at Eastlake High School in Chula Vista. “I want to know what colleges are doing to guarantee diversity.”
The court’s 6-3 ruling in June prohibits all colleges in the country from using race as a consideration in admissions. California’s public universities have not used affirmative action for almost 30 years, but some of the state’s selective private colleges, and many out-of-state public universities, have relied on affirmative action to attract students of color and create a more diverse student body.
Collectively, the state’s private nonprofit colleges enroll around 180,000 undergraduates who are drawn to the smaller class sizes and leafy campus idyll.
Immediately after the court decision, an association representing more than 80 California nonprofit private colleges wrote that it feared that the end of race-based admissions will mean less diversity on campuses: “Our member colleges and universities across California are deeply concerned that the decision will have a chilling effect on applications and enrollment among historically underserved community groups — Black, Latino, and Native American students, low-income and first-generation students,” wrote Kristen F. Soares, president of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.
Four months later, that fear is still there, Soares said…
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