JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A major Supreme Court ruling dealing with affirmative action was struck down today.
This will no longer allow colleges and universities to consider race in the college admissions process.
“This is a setback,” Jacksonville NAACP Chapter Vice-President Hank Rodgers said.
A 6-3 supreme court ruling struck down college affirmative action programs.
Rodgers, says this just isn’t right.
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Rodgers, says this just isn’t right
“This decision, which was made 45 years ago and is being rolled back is going to hurt,” Rodgers said.
This decision was made on two separate cases pertaining to Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
Rodgers believes in the future; this could hurt diversity numbers on college campuses in the state of Florida
“What that would mean is a decrease in diversity. Not only in the state of Florida for our African American students who are seeking interest into college,” Rodgers said.
Action news Jax went to the University of North Florida to talk with students.
Most of the students I spoke to expressed concern about the potential long-term impacts of the ruling, including Kevin Luhars who is a graduate student at the university
“I think it’s going to make our colleges less diverse. The evidence basically says when you take with Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action does take away racial disparities, but when you have colored blind admissions, it doesn’t reduce those disparities,” Luhars said.
Luhars says there are factors outside of race, that also impact diversity on campus.
“I also think class can come into that as well. For example, a lower-class white person is not going to have the same perspective as an upper-class white person,” Luhars said.