Harvard files brief with Supreme Court in admissions case
Harvard Gazette | Christina Pazzanese | Crimson | Rahem D. Hamid and Nia L. Orakwue
On July 25, 2022, Harvard filed its brief with the Supreme Court in the SFFA v. Harvard case According to the Gazette, “Harvard forcefully defended its compelling interest in pursuing the benefits of student-body diversity and the consideration of race as one factor among many in a narrowly tailored admissions process in a brief filed Monday with the Supreme Court. The filing is the latest round in the University’s eight-year battle to defend race-conscious admissions.”
As the Gazette reports, Harvard’s legal team wrote that the 14th Amendment “does not require us to disregard the commonsense reality that race is one among many things that shape life experiences in meaningful ways. And nothing in the text or history of the Fourteenth Amendment suggests that universities must uniquely exclude race from the multitude of factors considered in assembling a class of students best able to learn from each other.”
The Crimson summarized, “Harvard rejected SFFA’s assertion that the College violates the Fourteenth Amendment by considering race in its admissions process. The University defended its practices, noting that lower courts ruled that it does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants.”
As for alternatives, the Crimson reports that brief explains, “No alternative is presently workable… Until that changes, Harvard must be allowed to consider race as one of many characteristics in admissions to achieve the compelling benefits of student-body diversity.”
The Gazette quotes President Bacow as defending race-based diversity: “In our brief filed with the Supreme Court today, we have made a powerful case that enrolling a diverse student body is central to fulfilling our educational mission, that diversity enhances education for all… We remain steadfast in our belief that every college and university must retain the freedom and flexibility to create the diverse educational communities that will prepare their students for the opportunities and challenges they will confront in an increasingly diverse society.”
As the Crimson reports, “Several organizations have already filed amicus briefs calling on the Court to uphold affirmative action, including the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and 25 Harvard student and alumni groups.” Supporting amicus briefs are due August 1, 2022.
Related: What Harvard means by ‘Diversity’ (Boston Globe, 7/20/22)
