Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Harvard and UNC Cases on Race-Conscious Admissions
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases involving race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The plaintiff in both cases is Students for Fair Admissions, which is asking the Supreme Court to overturn its own recent precedent by banning any consideration of race as a factor in college admissions.
AAU President Barbara R. Snyder issued a statement earlier this year noting that America’s leading research universities have, for decades, publicly supported the Supreme Court’s decisions to allow institutions of higher education to promote diversity in their student bodies. AAU also joined an amicus brief in support of UNC and Harvard.
Both universities presented robust arguments on why the nation’s highest court should not prevent colleges and universities from creating diverse campus communities through their admissions policies. Several AAU presidents and chancellors also weighed in on the issue in a variety of news publications.
UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz wrote in an opinion piece for The Charlotte Observer that, at the Supreme Court, UNC was making its case “for the value of diversity” not only for its own campus “but for the thousands of colleges and universities that have been working for decades to provide the opportunity of higher education to all Americans who want to go to college.” He argued that “diversity is part of the greatness” of UNC’s student body and that the university considers everything it knows “about each student who applies, including their race, because each one has a unique story.” “No single factor ever decides admissions,” he added, “But taken together, they help us create a Carolina education that prepares everyone for the world that awaits beyond graduation.”
Northwestern University President Michael Schill echoed Guskiewicz’s arguments in the Chicago Tribune. Schill said plainly that removing the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions would “cause lasting damage to American universities and to our nation.” Ignoring race, he said, would blot out applicants’ unique experiences that are shaped by race and would prevent students as well as society from experiencing the benefits of learning from diverse perspectives on campus.
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger also discussed the continued need for race-conscious admissions in The Atlantic with co-author and University of Chicago Professor of Law Geoffrey Stone. Bollinger and Stone argued that, despite “efforts to create equal opportunity and remediate past injustice,” Black students continue to face unequal educational opportunities and continue to “remain particularly and egregiously disadvantaged” compared to other groups. They argued: “Affirmative action must continue, potentially for generations to come – because the invidious discrimination faced by Black Americans over a three-century span has not been undone.”
AAU, Associations Urge Lawmakers to Pass the Building Civic Bridges Act
AAU joined the American Council on Education and 29 other organizations in sending a letter to leaders of the House and Senate education and labor committees urging them to pass the bipartisan Building Civic Bridges Act (H.R. 6843/S. 4530).
Sponsored by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) in the House and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) in the Senate, the Building Civic Bridges Act would create an Office of Civic Bridgebuilding within AmeriCorps to support programs that would help Americans bridge political and ideological divisions.
The office would provide competitive grants to nonprofits, universities, and other community groups to initiate programs that would help facilitate conversations between people from diverse backgrounds and varying political perspectives. The act would also fund research on political and social polarization and on approaches to strengthen social cohesion and improve intergroup relations. “Strengthening civic bridgebuilding in communities across the country is vital to fostering constructive political discourse that advances our nation’s democratic values and national interests,” the letter said.
President Snyder published a blog post earlier this year discussing how the Building Civic Bridges Act offers a helpful way to bring Americans together in these increasingly divided times. America’s leading research universities already “play a key role in fostering civil discourse,” she said, adding that the proposed bill would be a “simple, smart, evidence-based way to heal our nation, foster engaged communities, and renew our commitment to democracy.”
Education Department Releases Regulations Making Changes to Targeted Debt Relief Programs
Earlier this week, the Department of Education released final regulations making changes to major student loan relief programs authorized by the Higher Education Act. According to the department, “The regulations expand eligibility, remove barriers to relief, and encourage automatic discharges for borrowers who are eligible for loan relief because their school closed, they have a total and permanent disability, or their loan was falsely certified.”
The regulations also make it easier for borrowers to raise a defense to repayment and end interest capitalization, which results in the addition of accrued interest to a borrower’s loan principle, in instances where it is not required by statute. The regulations further prohibit colleges from requiring borrowers to sign mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements or class action waivers and make changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to make it easier for borrowers to make progress toward loan forgiveness.
A fact sheet from the department with further information about the regulations is available here. The regulations will go into effect on June 1, 2023.
Leading Research Universities Report to Return on Friday, November 18
Due to the Veterans Day holiday, the Leading Research Universities Report will take a break from publication next week. The next edition will be released on Friday, November 18.
News of Interest
Los Angeles Times: California Banned Affirmative Action in 1996. Inside the UC Struggle for Diversity. – In 1996, California passed Proposition 209 banning the use of affirmative action in admissions at public institutions. California universities have struggled since then in admitting a diverse student body despite making massive investments in recruiting and outreach efforts.
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education: College Student Voting Expected to Remain High in the Midterms – In the last few years, colleges and community organizations have worked hard to encourage students to register and vote. The efforts, in addition to increased engagement in politics among college students, are expected to keep student voting high these midterm elections.
Detroit Free Press: MSU Board Names Faculty Choice Teresa Woodruff as Interim President – The Michigan State University Board of Trustees has named the school’s provost, Teresa Woodruff, as MSU’s interim president. Woodruff will replace outgoing president Samuel Stanley, who resigned earlier this month. Woodruff is a renowned biologist and also a professor in MSU’s departments of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology and biomedical engineering.
Deseret News: How the University of Utah Hopes to Make College More Affordable for Native Students – The University of Utah is now accepting applications for its Native Student Scholarship Program. The program will cover undergraduate tuition and fees for Native Utah residents enrolled at the university starting spring 2023. University of Utah President Taylor Randall says that the scholarship underscores the university’s “commitment to providing access to higher education that can transform the lives of students across Utah.”
NAE Perspectives: Engineering and the Diversity Imperative: The 15th Grand Challenge – In an opinion piece, University of California, Davis Chancellor Gary S. May writes about the need to increase diversity in engineering. “Engineering impacts everyone,” May writes, adding that “diversifying the field is imperative if we want to build on engineering’s legacy of extraordinary impact.”
The New York Times: The Pandemic Generation Goes to College. It Has Not Been Easy. – High school students who experienced pandemic learning loss are now struggling as first-year college students. Colleges and universities worry that, for low-income students and students of color especially, struggles in the classroom may translate to reduced graduation rates or an increase in time to graduation.
Featured Research

Something’s in the Air: It’s Nanoplastic Pollution
Purdue University researchers have found that a common method for repairing urban sewer pipes leads to the dispersal of micro- and nanoplastics in the air, which may constitute a health hazard for bystanders and the workers doing the repairs. The study is one of the first to point to the significant health risks of “inhaled, aerosolized microplastics.”

Researchers at the University of Minnesota are investigating a particular strain of sugar-producing algae to determine if it could be used to create fertilizer and to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The research could lead to the development of algae as a “sustainable sugar crop” that captures CO2 while producing “near-infinite harvests.”
Stat of the Week
A Majority of Graduates Are Satisfied with Their Undergraduate Experience
A college degree provides immense personal, social, and economic benefits to students, and going to college often proves to be a deeply fulfilling experience that students draw on for the rest of their lives. According to a recent public opinion study of American adults conducted by Dynata Research on AAU’s behalf, 90% of Americans who received a bachelor’s degree are satisfied with their undergraduate experience.