The Supreme Court has prohibited Affirmative Action, a program created to help minority students gain access to universities. This not only impacts families with children in school or high school, it will affect all of us. Nationally, one in four children is Latino, and limiting their access to universities will also restrict economic mobility opportunities for our communities. Can anything be done?
Why was Affirmative Action prohibited?
After decades of racial segregation, in the late 1970s, Affirmative Action became part of a series of policies aimed at reducing discrimination in educational programs and employment opportunities. This drew the repudiation of segregationist groups that repeatedly attempted to eliminate this practice.
Finally, a lawsuit against the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and Harvard demanded the removal of race as one of the eligibility criteria for student admission, leading to a broad legal debate that concluded with the decision of the new Supreme Court (with a conservative majority) on June 29th.
Advocates for the elimination of Affirmative Action propose the use of alternative eligibility criteria, such as socioeconomic status, instead of race. However, this puts minorities like Latinos at a disadvantage. There are numerically more low-income Anglo households than the combined number of low-income African American or Latino households.
Obstacles to a better future
It has been mentioned time and again that obtaining a university degree is one of the best ways to climb the socioeconomic ladder. Multiple studies indicate that those who attend university have higher salaries than those who don't. Despite this, historically access to these institutions has been restricted for minorities.
Multiple factors work against young Latinos in their pursuit of higher education. From high costs to a lack of their parents' involvement in the process (often due to unfamiliarity with the system) and limited access to opportunities.
Even when Affirmative Action was in effect, Latino students were the smallest group in the University of North Carolina (UNC) system, following Native Americans.
Across its 17 educational institutions, UNC enrolled approximately 240,000 students for the fall of 2022. Of these, only 8.65% were Latinos, despite Latinos representing 10.5% of the state's population. Many fear that the elimination of Affirmative Action will further reduce these figures.
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Can anything be done?
Universities have work to do; they must seek ways to improve the diversity of their students and more accurately reflect the state's demographics. This is crucial for everyone's future.
It is projected that by the year 2030, one in three K-12 students nationally will be Latino. It benefits no one to hinder this growing community from accessing universities, thereby limiting their opportunities to excel in business, science, or politics.
If the UNC system truly wants to uphold its commitment to diversity, it can take action today: it must eliminate restrictions against students protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. We would love to see UNC not only pay lip service to defending minorities but also take concrete actions.