The Biden administration will host the National Summit on Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. The summit is aimed at finding new ways to work diversity into the admissions process. Last month, the Supreme Court made it unlawful for colleges to take race into consideration as a specific factor in admissions. The conference will bring together college presidents, researchers, K-12 educators and other experts in various aspects of college admissions and student success to discuss the fallout of the ruling, a senior Department of Education official says. “There’s no time to waste here,” the official says of the summit’s focus on diversity and access to higher education for students of all races, backgrounds and incomes. “We need you and we need you our country needs you,” says the official, referring to students of color who want to go to college in the U.S., but don’t have the money to pay for it. “It was a tough couple of days to hear those Supreme Court decisions, but it hasn’t shaken our determination,” says a senior Education Department official. “You know, the secretary has been really clear about what he expects from us, and that’s what we continue to focus on – the work that’s ahead of us,” he adds. “These are all people who are experts in some aspect of this problem, who have done something that really works, and others can learn from,” says Under Secretary for Education James Kvaal, who calls the issue an “all hands on deck situation” “I’m sure that is a hot topic among college leaders and one that I expect the college leaders are in a careful look at,” he says of legacy admissions, “which I think they should take” Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth announced the school would end the preference for legacy applicants, writing in an op-ed that “the time is right for Wesleyan (and other schools, I hope) to make this formal change in policy” Critics of the policy say it overwhelmingly benefits White students, and Roth called for other American colleges and universities to promote “equitable and forward-thinking admissions processes” by “ending legacy preferences and expanding access to their educational programs” The decision was a one-two punch to the department, which also handles those loans, and has also dealt with criticism from Republicans in Congress. The Supreme Court decision came down just before another decision struck down President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. “It’s a place for you on college campuses, you belong on every college campus in the country,” theofficial says of African-American students, “and we see them and we see you” “I think the Supreme court decision was wrong and it misunderstood some of the most important features of our country, that our diversity is a great strength,” says an official, who says the department wants to talk “to all aspiring students, especially students of colour” “We immediately started inviting people to come here at the department to meet with the secretary and to chart a course forward together,” says another official.
Department of Education to host diversity summit after Supreme Court guts affirmative action. Department of Education will host admissions diversity summit.
