Affirming Equity. Ensuring Inclusion. Empowering Action.

Affirming Racial Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education is More Critical Than Ever Before

This month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce a decision on race-conscious admissions at public and independent colleges and universities. While we do not know the outcome of this decision, we know that equal opportunity for ALL Americans – particularly for Black, Latinx, Asian, and Native American students who have been historically excluded from higher education – is essential to our multi-racial democracy and economy.

Regardless of the Court ruling, federal, state, and college leaders have the responsbility to leverage all the tools and policies that help advance racial equity in higher education and do not take us back to an era of exclusion in higher education.

Equal Opportunity to College: The National Imperative

For the past nineteen years, the Campaign for College Opportunity has been the only independent voice in California exclusively focused on expanding college access, improving college completion, and closing the equity gaps by race and gender that persist in higher education.

A college degree provides unrivaled social and economic benefits, but beyond the individual benefit of a college education, the future of California and the United States depends on our ability to tap into the diverse talent of all Americans. This mission is more urgent than ever; today more than half of K-12 students attending U.S. public schools are Black, Latinx, Asian American, and/or Native American.

Regardless of the Court ruling, federal, state, and college leaders have the responsibility to leverage all the tools and policies that help advance racial equity in higher education and do not take us back to an era of exclusion.

SIGN THE OPEN CALL TO ACTION

Learning from California

For over twenty-five years, California has had a ban on the use of race-conscious admissions at its public universities, which has seriously affected marginalized students and access to higher education. Since then, the state has developed paths for improving racial equity at our colleges and universities. The Campaign has been proud to lead and join efforts to challenge and end practices that have a disparate impact on Latinx, Black, and other minoritized students. This includes championing historic reforms, such as:

Ending standardized testing in admission

Expanding capacity at public universities

Equity in college placement

Strengthening financial aid

Building stronger transfer pathways

Rethinking institutional funding strategies

As the national fate of race-conscious admissions looms, the Campaign for College Opportunity is drawing on the California experience in partnership with national experts and scholars to uplift proactive, evidence-based solutions to address inequities in college preparation, admissions, placement practices, and transfer to ensure minoritized students have a real equitable opportunity to go to college and succeed, regardless of the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action is a national effort where we seek to promote evidence-based solutions via a series of papers and toolkits that advance more equitable strategies in college preparation, admissions, placement practices, transfer, and more, to ensure those who have been historically excluded and underserved by our colleges and universities have a real opportunity to go to college and succeed, regardless of any court decision.

This effort is being led by the Campaign for College Opportunity and informed by national experts and scholars who have been leaders and practitioners across the nation advancing equity-minded agendas that have contributed to ensuring underrepresented minoritized students have an equal opportunity to access and earn a college degree.

Make no mistake, race-conscious admissions have been a powerful tool to address the legacy of racism and segregation in higher education, but it was never a panacea and more must and can be done to make college and university admissions truly equitable in opportunity for all Americans, not just the privileged few. Our Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action briefs focus on what state, college, and university leaders CAN do regardless of the outcome of the Court decision.

Read the brief series

Affirming Equity. Ensuring Inclusion. Empowering Action.

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“The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Toward Justice.”

Today’s fight for equal opportunity in higher education builds on the legacy of the civil rights movement. It was Black, Latinx, Asian American, and Native American communities that risked their lives to end segregation in our schools, to protest unequal education funding and racism in our classrooms, and to push for the consideration of race as one of many factors in university admissions. We have all inherited a better America because of their work and today, we are those civil rights leaders and we won’t go back to an era of exclusion.

We will continue the march toward justice and will be unapologetic about the economic, moral, and democratic imperative for equity in higher education. Join us!

Sign the Open Call to Action

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Thank You to Our Expert Advisors

This effort is guided by the expertise of higher education leaders nationwide, who are together leading the charge to protect equal opportunity in college admissions.