Wednesday, July 5, 2023 – Does the end of affirmative action mean fewer Native college students?

In his concurrence with the U.S. Supreme Court majority, Justice Clarence Thomas writes that “the color of a person’s skin is irrelevant to that individual’s equal status as a citizen of this nation.” The 6-3 decision does away with more than a half century of giving students of color an advantage in college recruiting in order to diversity the educational and professional population. Proponents of affirmative action say the numbers are clear: doing away with the practice of giving priority to Black, Latino, and Native students means there will be fewer of them in college.