The Supreme Court’s decision banning the use of race as a consideration in college admissions is bad constitutional law, bad policy, and bad for the country — taking us backwards even as we strive to build an inclusive nation where all have a genuinely and substantively equal opportunity to thrive.
As both experience and abundant evidence make clear, race-conscious policies in education have played a pivotal role in creating diverse student bodies with vibrant learning environments that benefit all students. They further our aspirations as a nation — aspirations the Supreme Court’s ideological blinders will undercut. Today’s results are the culmination of a 40-year campaign by a well-funded conservative legal movement to impede redressing the ongoing costs of centuries of racial discrimination, costs that continue to plague our nation today.
Philanthropic support, financial and otherwise, has never been more important. We stand firm in our commitment to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice for all and will continue to fund organizations working to advance racial justice. Our grantee partners — particularly those working to make education accessible to all — can count on our support as they navigate these new waters.
At Hewlett, along with so many others who feel the same way, we choose opportunity over exclusion, equality over privilege, and fairness over inequity.