As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in two cases dealing with racial preferences used by elite universities for their admissions processes, conservatives praised the Court for taking the cases and called for an end to the "affirmative action" — a feel-good term used to cover for the underlying use of racism to determines a student's value — policies that have harmed students for years.
For one example, Harvard's own admissions statistics show how the elite school's use of racial preferences has drastically warped the likelihood of acceptance for students of different races, giving priority to some at the expense of others in a way that erased merit as a standard for admission and stripped students of an equal opportunity to attend schools that use such standards.
Regarding the Harvard SCOTUS case today:
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) October 31, 2022
An African American in the 40th percentile of Harvard’s academic index will beat an Asian student with in the 90th percentile
That’s INSANE pic.twitter.com/Ktapu8QBIu
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley tweeted Monday as SCOTUS arguments were taking place that the practice of "[p]icking winners and losers based on race isn't just wrong, it's un-American," adding "liberal colleges didn't get that memo." No kidding.
Picking winners and losers based on race isn't just wrong, it's un-American.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) October 31, 2022
Clearly, liberal colleges didn't get that memo.
It's time to end these racist practices so that every student can have an equal opportunity to achieve the best life.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas highlighted an earlier quote by Chief Justice John Roberts that made his thoughts on racial bias: "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.
John Roberts said it best: the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 31, 2022
It's past time to end the discriminatory practice of affirmative action.
Meanwhile Vivek Ramaswamy noted that the problems happening in college admissions aren't only a problem for students after their elementary and secondary educations are complete:
Fix the problem by addressing the failures of public schools in K-12. Break up the public teachers’ unions, instead of cosmetically “fixing” their failures through racist college admissions policies.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) October 31, 2022
In his commentary on the arguments in the University of North Carolina case, Ilya Shapiro concluded that "the time has come to end the decades-long tinkering with how much admissions officers are allowed to judge applicants based on the color of their skin rather than the content of their character and their academic merit." Shapiro also predicted that, "come June," when SCOTUS opinions are released, "the Court will help promote national unity and equal opportunity against the racialist balkanizers."
6. Today's marathon argument session shows that the time has come to end the decades-long tinkering with how much admissions officers are allowed to judge applicants based on the color of their skin rather than the content of their character and their academic merit
— Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro) October 31, 2022
Not for nothing, conservatives and others who oppose colleges and universities using racial preferences in their admissions criteria are in an overwhelming majority, according to a Washington Post poll conducted at the beginning of October as the Supreme Court's current term began.
According to the Post's survey 63 percent of Americans said they support a SCOTUS opinion barring higher education institutions from considering students' race when making admission decisions. Notably, 67 percent of independents support such a ban on affirmative action in college admissions while 53 percent of Democrats think SCOTUS should allow racial bias to continue impacting admissions decisions.