The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against race-obsessed “affirmative action,” but colleges and universities are predictably looking for ways to circumvent the ruling and continue making race-based admissions decisions. One New York college is asking applicants about the “impact” of the SCOTUS ruling on them.
Sarah Lawrence College is now providing applicants an essay option to explain how the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action (which factors race into admissions decisions) supposedly “impacted” their college goals. Admissions counselor Kevin McKenna claimed in a statement to “Campus Reform” that “our interest is in how a prospective student might craft a compelling statement or narrative on an important societal topic—not what ideological side (if any) they identify with.”
Perhaps McKenna thinks he is sincere, but his claim seems highly questionable in light of the radical leftism of most of academia now, not to mention his own college’s previous “diversity and inclusivity” prompt.
The college’s Common Application Essay provides three options for a prospective student to write on. The third option reads:
In the syllabus of a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the author notes: “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.” Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court’s decision.
Whatever the heck that means.
McKenna defended the essay topic in comments to “Campus Reform.” “Over the past few years, one of our three optional admissions essay prompts has asked students to reflect on what diversity and inclusivity means to them as they look ahead to their college years,” McKenna said. Ah, for the days when woke buzzwords had nothing to do with higher education. Of course, the Supreme Court decision necessitated an alteration, but Sarah Lawrence has found a solution.
”In light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision changing the landscape of how colleges and universities talk about race, ethnicity, and access to higher education, we felt we should find a way to update our prompt,” McKenna rambled. “Just as our other optional prompts foreground aspects of our learning community like our open curriculum and our particular model of rigorous faculty-mentored student research, we felt this new prompt could reinforce two key attributes of our community: that we ask our students to take on challenging issues in society head-on with intellectual rigor and thoughtfulness; and, that our community believes the national conversations on race are important ones that should occupy a place of prominence in higher education.”
Related: Ten Reasons Why Affirmative Action Died
No, I’m sorry, “race” should not have any place as a prominent topic in higher education. It’s one thing to discuss real history of racist actions and individuals in a history class, but American colleges need to stop promoting “conversations on race.” This fixation on skin color is exactly what fuels continued division and prejudices in America.
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