submitted by farrisr@augsburg.edu
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in two cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina that the use of race as a factor in college admissions was unconstitutional.
The Augsburg community is committed to intentional diversity in our life and work. This commitment aligns with our use of holistic application review and our direct admissions approach, launched in fall 2022. Because direct admissions does not consider race as a factor, Augsburg’s current admissions processes are unlikely to be affected by the SFFA v. Harvard/UNC ruling—despite potentially far-reaching impacts for higher education. Augsburg’s experience with direct admissions may serve as a useful case study on alternative strategies to lower barriers for historically underrepresented and marginalized student populations following this decision.