Affirmative Action May Be Overturned In Higher Education—Are Workplaces Next?

The U.S. Supreme Court spent close to five hours of oral argument on Monday discussing race-conscious admissions policies in colleges and universities, with a particular focus on Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

In an ironic and interesting twist of fate, it’s likely that the Supreme Court will end affirmative action in higher education despite its makeup—four women, two African Americans and a Latina–as the most diverse in history. The conservative supermajority within the Supreme Court holds the power to reverse the decades-old precedent, which could impact Black and Hispanic students the most.

However, the overturning of affirmative action could extend beyond education—workplaces may be next. Six out of the nine justices are likely to rule in favor of ending affirmative action programs. If the Supreme Court votes to end race-conscious admissions policies, it will negatively impact racial diversity.

In Monday’s meeting, Justice Clarence Thomas remarked that he doesn’t “have a clue” what diversity means. It’s difficult to work toward a diversity solution when there isn’t uniform agreement regarding what diversity actually is. Diversity has become a dirty word.

Admittedly, there is better terminology available to describe the specific challenge of recruiting underrepresented talent. Terminology isn’t the only issue. Discouraging workplace policies that take a job candidate’s race and ethnicity into consideration can have deleterious effects on the talent pipeline. Companies already struggle with attracting and recruiting Black, Latine and Indigenous talent. Evidence suggests that affirmative action policies do increase the number of women and underrepresented racial groups. Race-neutral policies will create more barriers when it comes to attracting and recruiting underrepresented talent, which is what happened with the University of Michigan and the University of California.

Fifteen years ago, two of the nation’s top universities, the University of Michigan and the University of California, were prohibited from using race-conscious admissions policies. Since then, both university systems have struggled to build a racially diverse student body. Some critics of affirmative action claim it causes reverse discrimination against white people. Within the U.S., division, polarization and pushback against woke ideology seems to have grown stronger since the Trump presidency. Lawmakers in several states have denounced the teaching of critical race theory (although it was not being taught in K-12 schools) and in states like Florida, Governor DeSantis has condemned the teaching of “divisive topics” such as anti-racism, systemic racism, white supremacy.

There is an overwhelming amount of research highlighting the benefits of diversity. Environments that are diverse are more creative and innovative. From a profitability standpoint, diversity wins. A 2014 McKinsey study found that racial/ethnic and gender diversity lead to greater financial returns; these findings were later replicated in 2019. Diverse teams also outperform more homogenous teams, research suggests. Diversity initiatives and race-conscious practices are not without their flaws but they should not be completely discarded. Initiatives that were created to increase diversity should not become a check-the-box activity that organizations and institutions engage in as a form of performative activism.

As mentioned, affirmative action programs are not always perfect; Wells Fargo conducted fake job interviews in their quest for more diversity and affirmative action policies have benefited white women more than any other group.

Affirmative action was not created for members of historically marginalized groups to receive some sort of unfair advantage. The policy was created to correct the systemic racism that prevented people from oppressed communities from having equal opportunities. The United States is a country that prides itself on being a melting pot where anyone can get their piece of the proverbial pie. Diversity is one of the things that makes America so great and throwing out race-conscious policies and practices will weaken both the education system and the modern workplace.