Diversity in Admissions

U.S. Supreme Court Cases
SFFA v. Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill Diversity in Admissions
SFFA v. Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill Diversity in Admissions
The Supreme Court has released its long-awaited decision in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, striking down colleges’ use of race-conscious admissions nationwide.
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
Resources on the legal challenges to race-conscious admissions, ACE’s amicus briefs in support of UT and more.
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: University of Michigan Admissions Cases
August 1, 2002
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: University of Michigan Admissions Cases
Amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan in the 2003 cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger.
The Issue

​​​​​​​​​​Achieving equitable access to college for communities of color has been a critical goal for higher education since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Higher Education Act in 1965. So too has been recognizing and protecting institutional autonomy and freedom to construct a diverse campus that generates educational benefits for its students and allows it to fulfill its educational mission.

Diversity can mean different things to different campuses, from putting together a student body that has artists, dancers, tuba players, students from other countries, and athletes for its sports teams, to offering admission to students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and racial and ethnic backgrounds. It is that range of individuals that leads to the educational benefits that accrue to students from being in a setting where they are surrounded by people of differing backgrounds and perspectives and who are interested in different things.

The Council has worked to promote diversity in higher education since its early days. In 1946, ACE included recommendations for removing barriers to higher education for racial, religious, and handicap minorities in its Presidential Commission on Higher Education for President Harry S. Truman. In 1962, ACE formed the Committee on Equality of Educational Opportunity in the wake of issues that were raised during the integration of the University of Mississippi. Two years later, ACE established the Office of Urban Affairs, which evolved into the Office of Minorities in Higher Education. The office issued reports and publications on access and diversity on campuses, continuing a priority area for research first established in the 1940s.

Time and again, ACE has echoed the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmations of the benefits of campus diversity summarized most recently in its second ruling on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (Fisher II) in 2016: “the destruction of stereotypes, the promotion of cross-racial understanding, the preparation of a student body for an increasingly diverse workforce and society, and the cultivation of a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry.”

ACE also is a strong proponent of colleges and universities having the ability to define for themselves, within broad limits, the diversity that will produce the educational benefits they seek for all their students, including the consideration of race in admissions. Contemporary admissions policies in support of this goal have faced numerous legal challenges. In five different decisions over the past four decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has held in favor of the holistic consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions as one of many factors, affirming the argument and research that shows student body diversity bestows myriad educational benefits.

ACE submitted amicus briefs in most of these cases, including the 2003 University of Michigan cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger, as well as the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case, which was decided by the Supreme Court in 2013 and again when Fisher appealed and the Court again sided with the university in 2016 (known as Fisher II). In 2022, ACE and 39 higher education groups filed an amicus brief opposing the most current challenge to diversity in admissions policies, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. University of North Carolina

ACE Amicus Briefs
Amicus Brief: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard and v. University of North Carolina
August 1, 2022
Amicus Brief: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard and v. University of North Carolina
ACE, along with 39 other higher education associations, submitted this amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the universities' race-conscious admissions protocols that are being challenged.
Amicus Brief to U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard
May 21, 2020
Amicus Brief to U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard
Along with 40 other higher education associations, ACE submitted this amicus brief in support of Harvard in the challenge to the university's “holistic” admissions process.
Amicus Brief: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Harvard
July 30, 2018
Amicus Brief: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Harvard
ACE and 36 other higher education organizations submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. District Court in Boston in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Harvard.
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: Fisher v. University of Texas (II)
October 30, 2015
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: Fisher v. University of Texas (II)
ACE and 37 other higher education associations filed this brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, as the court prepares to take a second look at UT’s diversity in admissions policy.
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: Fisher v. University of Texas
August 13, 2012
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: Fisher v. University of Texas
Amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Fisher v. University of Texas, which deals with the university's admissions policy.
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: University of Michigan Admissions Cases
August 1, 2002
Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: University of Michigan Admissions Cases
Amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan in the 2003 cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger.
 
 

Post-SFFA v. Harvard & UNC Decision Resources: Admissions and Beyond

To assist higher education institutions as they consider their own policies, practices, and initiatives

​Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education

Download ACE's 2019 report and 2020 supplement and browse the data along with an extensive library of resources.

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