NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The college education process as students know it will soon change drastically.
With a 6-3 and split along party lines, the Supreme Court of the United States voted that affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional, meaning colleges and universities won't be able to consider race as a factor for admission any longer.
The decision is being met with pushback from students and educators, who come from historically disadvantaged communities, including the president and CEO of Meharry Medical College Dr. James Hildreth.
"As a 66-year-old Black man, I can say that things have gotten better. But racism is still real. It impacts everything in our society. It shapes our experiences as individuals. And so to me, it's very shocking that the court would just ignore the fact that we are where we are," he said.
The ruling is expected to impact students at schools with competitive acceptance rates. For sophomore Juan Escamilla Vargas at Belmont, his worry is that fewer students of color will be admitted next year.
"I definitely do feel sometimes out of place. And I feel that with this decision, it's going to make me feel a little more out of place with potentially admission classes within the following years becoming more and more white," Vargas said.
He said often times affirmative action is misunderstood.
"People think that people get handouts and stuff. And that's not the case. People have worked their butts off to get here. And to kind of have that happen. It's just this is not a good day," he said.
The Supreme Court did clarify that schools can consider an applicant's discussion of how race impacted his or her life — be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise. Advocates hope this will lead to schools placing more weight on different factors that will still guarantee a diverse student body.
