Affirmative action ruling could have little impact on area's colleges, universities

Jul. 1—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Deacon Jeffrey Wilson is unsure what the future holds for area students, colleges and universities after the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that race cannot be used as a factor in college admissions.

Wilson, the NAACP Johnstown Branch's first vice president, said that while he was "devastated" by the ruling that struck down affirmative action in college admissions, he had been expecting it based on the high court's conservative majority.

"Right now, it's very murky," Wilson said. "We really don't know what the plan is for our local institutions."

The ruling may not affect area colleges and universities as much as schools such as Harvard University, which was named in one of the lawsuits on which the Supreme Court ruled.

Pennsylvania Highlands Community College administrators pointed to the school's admissions policy, which reads: "Pennsylvania Highlands Community College is an open-door post-secondary institution and grants admission to individuals who have earned a high school diploma, a GED, or an equivalent credential."

Additionally, people without those credentials may be admitted to the school "if they are able to benefit from a college experience as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, Section 484(d)."

Niche, a college ranking site, lists the Penn Highlands admissions rate as 100%.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania also should not be impacted by the decision, according to officials at the university, which has an admission rate of 94.2%, according to U.S. News and World Report.

When contacted, the school's public relations department pointed to a statement issued in response to the ruling by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, of which IUP is a part.

"We are reviewing the Supreme Court's ruling, which we expect will have minimal impact on PASSHE universities," the statement said. "The decision mostly affects universities with very limited admissions, whereas PASSHE universities — serving nearly 85,000 students — are state-owned, public institutions with a mission to make higher education accessible to Pennsylvanians at the lowest possible cost."

Michelle Fryling, IUP's executive director of media relations, added that "race is not a factor in admissions decisions at IUP."

As of fall 2020, PASSHE reported that about 20% of its 78,304 total undergraduates were underrepresented minorities, defined as Native American, Black or African American, Hispanic or multi-racial people.

Of 15,400 graduate students, 14.1% fell into that category.

The Supreme Court's ruling was in response to suits brought by the nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in 6-2 and 6-3 decisions, respectively, stating that the schools "fail to operate their race-based admissions programs in a manner that is 'sufficiently measurable to permit judicial (review)' under the rubric of strict scrutiny," therefore violating the equal protections clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

This means that colleges and universities across the country can no longer consider race as a factor when selecting students for the limited spots available.

Harvard has an admissions rate of 4%, according to U.S. News and World Report, while UNC has a rate of 19%, the resource shows.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the decision in a dissent that Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined, stating: "Today, this Court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress."

She argued that equal educational opportunity is "a prerequisite to achieving racial equality in our nation" and that allowing colleges and universities to use race in a limited way in admissions has helped equalize opportunities and led to more diverse campuses.

Jackson also wrote a dissenting opinion, in which Sotomayor and Kagan joined, that explored the history of inequitable laws and practices in the U.S.

Wilson said he encouraged people to read her comments because of their depth of knowledge and history, he said. He said it took hundreds of years to reach the current level of equality in the U.S. and pointed to the benefits of affirmative action in providing opportunities for all residents, especially people of color, in getting fair access to jobs, housing, schooling and more.

"That's the key — you can't ignore history," Wilson said. "The country is better when everybody gets a fair shake."

St. Francis University has the lowest admission rate among colleges and universities in the area, with 73%, according to U.S. News and World Report, which shows neighboring school Mount Aloysius College's admissions rate at 92.4%.

The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown's admissions rate was harder to locate. Niche and CollegeSimply list the school as having a 92% admissions rate, but U.S. News and World Report, Best Colleges and PrepScholar show that UPJ's rate is 87%.

The University of Pittsburgh's main campus's provost and senior vice chancellor, Ann Cudd, addressed the ruling in a statement.

"The University of Pittsburgh's mission is to improve lives through education and knowledge," Cudd said. "We believe that all of our students can and should benefit from this mission and that diversity, in all its forms, enhances our individual and shared success and improves the educational experience. In the wake of (Thursday's) ruling, these guiding principles remain unchanged, and we are evaluating our admission practices to ensure that they continue to be inclusive, fair, and fully compliant with the law."