Affirmative action in Florida: UCF Political Scientist weighs in

The highest court in the land ruled Thursday that colleges can no longer use race as a factor in admissions. Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, said Harvard and University of North Carolina admissions programs violated the Equal Protection Clause.

However, affirmative action has been banned in Florida for two decades, leading many to question the decision’s impact in the Sunshine State.

The Florida Board of Governors released this statement following the landmark decision: “This decision will have no impact on the State University System of Florida. The Free State of Florida has not utilized affirmative action in our higher education system since the One Florida Initiative in 1999.“

That’s when then Governor Jeb Bush issued an order called One Florida. Even then, the affirmative action debate was all over the news, making headlines in the New York Times, for example. Simply put, it prohibited public universities from using race as a factor in admissions. The Supreme Court’s ruling applies to all higher education, public and private.

“This latest supreme court decision involves two different situations that involve the University of North Carolina public institution, but it also involved Harvard, a private institution,” said Dr. Aubrey Jewett, Political Science professor at the University of Central Florida. “So the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly said, no college, public or private, can use race or ethnicity as an admission factor.”

Jewett also explained that Florida universities have implemented alternative approaches to promote diversity, like considering first-generation college status or family income as indicators. Regardless, he believes the ruling leaves some ambiguity, as justices debated the extent to which race-related factors could be considered.

For example, Chief Justice John Roberts said the decision should not prohibit universities from considering “an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

“There is a little wiggle room according to the conservatives who voted, you know, six to three to establish that rule,” Jewett said. “But exactly how much wiggle room there is, like in a personalized assay or an application, we don’t really know yet because even on the supreme court, they were arguing about what would be allowed and what wouldn’t be allowed.”

Ultimately, Jewett believes this lack of clarity may lead to interpretation differences and potential legal challenges.

“In my view, because there is disagreement between the majority and the minority on the Supreme Court about exactly what this ruling means, then there’s definitely going to be some further court action required at some point in the future,” Jewett said.

According to this survey from the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans say race should not be a factor in college admissions. Specifically, it found that “half of U.S. adults disapprove of selective colleges considering race and ethnicity in admissions, while a third approve.”

What questions do you have about the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling?

Email: kellie.miller@winknews.com