FAIR News: SCOTUS Poised to Rule on Affirmative Action
Newsletter
Dear Friends of FAIR,
In May 2022, FAIR’s legal team and network counsel filed an amicus brief in support of Students for Fair Admissions. Our pro-human mission and philosophy means that we advocate for treating people as unique individuals who share a common humanity, and not as representatives of identity groups. Many policies and programs intended to ensure equal opportunity for all individuals, including those from historically underrepresented groups, align with our values of fairness, understanding, and humanity. However, policies or programs that discriminate against or advantage individuals based on skin color or ethnicity in order to achieve group-based outcomes are inconsistent with FAIR’s principles.
Under current legal precedent, colleges and universities may consider applicants’ “race” in making admissions decisions. However, the Supreme Court is currently reconsidering that doctrine in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. Sometime in the next 10 days, and potentially as soon as today, the Supreme Court is expected to tightly restrict or ban race-based affirmative action in college admissions, a decision that FAIR fully stands behind as outlined in our brief.
FAIR believes that diversity along many dimensions is a desirable goal in institutions of higher education. However, granting preferences based on skin color and group identity are not the way to achieve that goal. Making skin color a factor in the admissions process reinforces the arbitrary concept of “race” and disregards this nation’s fundamental principle of equal treatment without regard to skin color. It also treats applicants as interchangeable members of identity groups rather than as individuals. Additionally, by using reductive group preferences that are a crude proxy for an individual’s life experience, competence, or character, we elevate institutional interests over individual rights and division, resentment, and dehumanization.
The upcoming SCOTUS decision is expected to dramatically change the law surrounding college admissions, and universities will inevitably react by making significant changes to the ways they vet and admit their student applicants. So what does the decision actually say? What will admissions processes look like going forward? How might this decision impact our culture?
We’ll bring you answers to all of these questions and many more in a roundtable discussion of thought leaders who are paying close attention to this issue. FAIR is pleased to welcome our Board of Directors member, Professor Ilya Shapiro who will be joined by FAIR Advisors who will be announced soon! As soon as the decision is published, we will set the date and time of this event and you will receive a special communication from FAIR with the registration link. We look forward to hosting this dynamic group of panelists, and we hope you will join us.
Warmly,
The Team at the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism
FAIR Featured in the New York Post
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FAIR Twin Cities June Meeting
Join FAIR’s Twin Cities chapter for their June Meeting! At 9:30am EST on June 24th they will celebrate their second "birthday" with special treats and a great program. Hear updates on the newly launched Minnesota FAIR in Medicine concerning illiberal changes to K12 from the legislative session and impressive pockets of local energy for upcoming fall school board elections.
The event will feature a pro-human training on "How To Have Difficult Conversations" to set the stage for great pro-human conversations throughout your summer.
Understanding Gender Modification Laws in Missouri
Watch FAIR’s recent webinar on gender modification laws in Missouri!
Does Implicit Bias Training Help Anyone? With Dr. Chris Ferguson
Watch FAIR in Medicine’s webinar about The Implicit Association Test.
DEI Trends in Education: What’s Happening & How To Respond
What are DEI programs in education intended to achieve? Are they making a positive impact, or are they causing more harm than good? For this webinar, FAIR brought together three panelists who have extensive experience with DEI in educational settings.
FAIR News Podcast
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FAIR Educators Alliance & Other Networks
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The FAIR Educators Alliance hosts an informal, virtual happy hour every other Thursday evening with occasional speakers and presentations.
FAIR also offers a group for Librarians and Library staff that meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm EDT.
Teachers, administrators, librarians, and educators of all kinds are welcome. For more information and to join any of these networks, please email educators@fairforall.org.
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Had one child go through the process last year, and one will this year. This looming decision obviously impacted admissions last year, and to hear the various admissions staff members at elite institutions discuss it last year, I have every confidence that they have workarounds planned for when this SCOTUS decision hits. These people come across as - by and large - deeply ideological and committed to race-based admissions no matter what. They see it as noble, and see those looking to move the process closer to merit-based as fairly synonymous with evil. Affirmative Action isn’t going away in college admissions -- it will just take on a slightly different form.
Affirmative action needs to go. As Thomas Sowell says, it just results in a mismatch between students and universities. DIE methodology can go away as well.
https://unskool.substack.com/p/die-methodology-is-exactly-as-bad