The recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District,
though it steers clear of dismantling college and university admissions
policies, has tremendous implications for those of us concerned about diversity
in higher education.
According to the new Supreme Court decision, K-12 schools have no authority to
create racial balance in schools in order to assure that students are educated
in a racially diverse environment.
The Seattle decision cites Brown v.
Board of Education to argue that the “classification and segregation themselves
denoted inferiority.” But it is not segregation that interests the plurality of
the court, but classification. For the majority of this court, making any
school assignment decision based on race, even if the aim is integrated
education, is wrong.
In K-12 schools, this decision will lead to even
more segregation of White and non-White students. School districts,
particularly in the North, have used voluntary desegregation to make school
boundaries as racially balanced as possible. The end of these programs will
create more schools with students who are homogenous, and expose students to
fewer peers of different backgrounds.
For colleges and
universities, the Parents v. Seattle decision does not mean that
admissions decisions will be changed, but it does mean that the students we
admit will have had less contact with members of other groups, will know less
about other cultures within the United States and will not have known a
full range of individuals from other groups. The college classroom may be the
first time students have a substantial discussion with members of other groups.
This makes colleges and
universities, and what happens in and out of the classroom, even more
important. In areas like Southeast Michigan, where I teach, going to a
college might be the only diverse environment our students have engaged in. And
given the level of residential segregation, it may be the last. It is our
responsibility to help students grapple with these issues productively in the
short time we have with them.
Another implication of the Seattle decision that colleges and
universities must address is the failure to teach students about the issues and
achievements of the civil rights movement in America, and what the goals of that
movement were. Reading the decision, one would think that Brown was
about making colorblind decisions, or avoiding racial classifications
altogether.
