Hundreds of professionals, legislators, and influential companies have submitted amicus papers in support of both parties as the Supreme Court readies to hear arguments in a case that might determine the future of affirmative action on college campuses.
Oral arguments in two issues involving the admissions practices of Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday. Asian American candidates, according to Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), are discriminated against by both schools’ policies, which take race into account when making admissions decisions.
SFFA initially filed a lawsuit against Harvard in 2014, and now it is asking the Supreme Court to overturn its famous decision in Grutter v. Bollinger from 2003 that permitted race to be taken into account when determining admission to colleges. Diversity among students was then deemed to be “a compelling state interest” by the court.
Teachers unions, well-known organizations, and well-known businesses like Google, Uber, and Starbucks asked the Supreme Court to support Harvard and uphold the practice of considering race when choosing who gets admitted to colleges.
The American Federation of Teachers, one of the biggest teachers organizations in the country, claimed in a brief that ethnic diversity on college campuses will be beneficial to both students and society as a whole. The teachers union also referred to the findings from states that forbid the consideration of race in college admissions as “unsettling.”
A number of big businesses, including those in the tech, airline, manufacturing, and retail sectors, have emphasized the value of having a diverse workforce. They claim that they “seek employees who have been educated at universities with exposure to a broad array of life experiences and viewpoints, and who can bring divers perspectives and experiences to the workplace.”
