What Comes After Affirmative Action
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2023
⏱️ 41 minutes
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Summary
In October, the Supreme Court heard two cases—against Harvard and U.N.C.—that are expected to bring about the end of affirmative action at American colleges and universities. The practice rests on the Fourteenth Amendment: equal protection under the law. But the Court, under the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, is reëvaluating what “equal protection” really means, raising the idea that current methods of affirmative action are actually a thinly veiled form of racism. Jeannie Suk Gersen, a New Yorker contributing writer and a professor at Harvard Law School, was in attendance for the oral arguments, and wrote this week about the anticipated decision. She joined Tyler Foggatt last fall to discuss whether a more holistic admissions process is the best way to create diversity, and whether diversity is really the best ideal for universities to aspire to.
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| 1:12.8 | We will hear argument first this morning in case 21707, students for fair admissions versus |
| 1:18.9 | the University of North Carolina. You're listening to the political scene. I'm Tyler Foggett, |
| 1:24.3 | and I'm a senior editor at The New Yorker. Mr. Park, I've heard the word diversity quite a few times, and I don't have a clue what it means. |
| 1:35.0 | It seems to mean everything for everyone. |
| 1:38.6 | Last October, the Supreme Court heard two cases, against Harvard and UNC, about the use of affirmative action |
| 1:45.1 | at American colleges and universities. |
| 1:48.1 | The justices are expected to issue a ruling on affirmative action any day now, and the |
| 1:53.1 | court's conservative majority appears poised to end the race-conscious policy that has shaped |
| 1:57.5 | college admissions for decades. |
| 2:00.6 | Jeannie Suit Gerson, a contributing writer at The New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard Law School, |
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