Sandra Day O'Connor: Race is impermissible because of the constitutional command of equality. The university is certainly free to make many different kinds of choices in selecting students, and to look for all kinds of different diversity without regard to race. What you can't do, the court said, is automatically give every black applicant ten points just because they're black. It's part of a broader consideration to try to get a wider mixture of people with different perspectives in life experience.
For decades, colleges and universities across the US have promoted the value of having a diverse student body on campus.
The Supreme Court could soon change that. On Oct. 31, the justices will consider two challenges to affirmative action in college admissions, and if they choose to strike it down, there will be enormous repercussions for who gets into the nation’s top schools — and who doesn’t.
So what will college campuses look like in an America without affirmative action? And are there other ways for admissions officers to work around a potential ban on the practice?
Bloomberg Senior Reporter Greg Stohr joins with insights on what we can expect from the Supreme Court, and Equality Reporter Kelsey Butler explains how colleges around the country are bracing for massive disruption.
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