Many continue to worry about higher education’s future after the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling, so one group is taking action.
According to The Associated Press, civil rights activists argue against Harvard University‘s legacy admissions. The organization accuses the practice of discrimination against people of color while offering an advantage to the predominately white kids of alums.
On Monday (July 3), the outlet noted that the group filed a civil rights complaint through their lawyers on behalf of Black and Latino students in New England, Massachusetts. In the filing, the association claimed the university’s admission system violates the Civil Rights Act. “Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations?” Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, the group’s executive director, said. “Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.”
Harvard released a statement in response to the complaint and declined to speak specifically on the subject. “Last week, the university reaffirmed its commitment to the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences,” the statement read. “As we said, in the weeks and months ahead, the university will determine how to preserve our essential values, consistent with the Court’s new precedent.”
The complaint comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision involving Harvard that rocked the country. The nation’s highest court stated that part of their decision to end affirmative action at the Ivy League institution and the University of North Carolina was because their admissions programs “lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race.” After the court’s ruling, President Joe Biden suggested colleges and universities rethink the practice because the legacy admissions “expand privilege instead of opportunity.”