The SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling: Jackson Cites Oliver and Other ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ Reactions
The ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ community reacts to the U.S. Supreme Courtβs finding that affirmative action is unconstitutional β and President Emeritus Melvin L. Oliverβs book features prominently in a dissent.
In her dissent to the Supreme Court's June decision against affirmative action in college admissions, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cited research by ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ President Emeritus Melvin L. Oliver regarding racial wealth disparity in America.
Jackson pulled several of her points from Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality, which Oliver co-authored with Brandeis University Professor Thomas M. Shapiro. First published in 1995, their book analyzes how wealth has perpetuated racial inequality in the U.S. despite (and because of) public policies.
In her first citation, in which she directly quotes Oliver's book, Jackson wrote: βGiven the lengthy history of state-sponsored race-based preferences in America, to say that anyone is now victimized if a college considers whether that legacy of discrimination has unequally advantaged its applicants fails to acknowledge the well-documented βintergenerational transmission of inequalityβ that still plagues our citizenry.β
The 10th anniversary edition of Oliver and Shapiro's award-winning book was published in 2006. Years later, Black Wealth/White Wealth remains a touchstone for discussions of racial inequality. Ta-Nehisi Coates cited the work in his Atlantic article βThe Case for Reparations,β and The Washington Post quoted Oliver in its six-part series, βGeorge Floyd's America.β
While he was ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄'s president, Oliver established the Racial Justice Initiative, renamed the Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative in his honor upon retirement, to embed racial justice throughout the College's educational experience. Oliver has called the initiative βa culmination of my lifeβs work and an essential component of ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄βs social justice mission.β
Other ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ Responses
The ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ communityβs opposition to the high courtβs striking down of affirmative action in college admissions was visible in other media outlets and venues.
An email message to the College community from President Strom C. Thacker, Interim President Jill Klein Pβ15, and Admission and Financial Aid Vice President Yvonne Berumen β97 expressed disappointment but also reaffirmed ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄'s commitment to diversity within the changing legal landscape.
In addition, ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ alumna Michele Siqueiros β95, who serves as president of the nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity, talked to NBC News about the ruling's impact.