Building diverse campuses requires race-conscious admissions

Courtroom 17 in the U.S. Courthouse in Boston is decorated in ways that the city’s Puritan forbearers would appreciate—simple, quiet, and respectful. A place where disputes are resolved, some of significance only to those most directly involved, others of profound reach and consequence. 

For 15 days in 2018, it was a second home to me, when as general counsel to Harvard University I coordinated the university’s response to a lawsuit challenging both the means and the ends by which colleges and universities admit their student body. 

Later this fall, the United States Supreme Court will hear argument on the Harvard case, as well as a companion case involving the University of North Carolina. Although I am no longer an active participant in the case, I am carefully following its progress through the courts because of the importance of the issues to me personally, to society, and to Gettysburg College, where I now serve as its 15th president.

We are a nation divided—by ideology, political affiliation, geography, religion, socio-economic status, and so much more. The problem is not just that we struggle to talk across difference; it is that increasingly we are not exposed to people whose lives and views differ from our own. Many of our communities have regressed demographically and are returning to prior levels of homogeneity.  Our news sources are curated to affirm what we already believe—or want to believe—to be true. Our bubbles have become less and less porous.

This is especially true when it comes to matters of race. Last year, a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that 81 percent of the metropolitan areas in the United States were more segregated in 2019 than they were in 1990. Given the correlation between housing and education, the same is true for public elementary and secondary schools. Our public schools are less integrated today than they have been since the 1960s and 1970s. 

We know that regular, personal, and meaningful interactions across racial lines decrease prejudice. Those interactions encourage us to look past assumptions, stereotypes, and societal messaging and instead to see the humanity of the person before us. The opposite is also true.  Without opportunities to engage with people of different racial backgrounds, longstanding societal biases can go largely unchallenged. Is it a coincidence that bias and hate crimes are on the rise given the increase in racially segregated communities?  

For most students, college represents their first opportunity to live in a truly diverse community. This campus profile is no accident. Through practices long endorsed by the Supreme Court, colleges and universities act purposefully to admit classes of highly qualified students from varied backgrounds, races, and life experiences. This encourages interaction across differences of all types—and with it the opportunity to lift the assumptions and blinders in which bias and prejudice thrive.

If the Supreme Court upends 50 years of precedent that permits colleges and universities to consider race in admissions, many colleges and universities are likely to become less racially diverse. This was made clear at the Harvard trial, when the university demonstrated (and two courts later agreed) that there were no workable race-neutral alternatives that would have resulted in an equally robust class, academically and demographically. At a time when polarization is corroding the fabric of our society, we cannot afford to walk back one of the few existing mechanisms for fostering diverse communities.

An adverse decision by the court would do other forms of damage as well. Higher education has spoken clearly and powerfully about the educational importance of a diverse study body. At trial, for example, Harvard testified to the considered judgment of its faculty about the profound educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.

Higher education understands this essential truth: a diverse student body benefits every student, of every race and background. It breaks down stereotypes, biases, and misinformation. It exposes students to different life experiences and viewpoints, which is an essential precondition to authentic learning. It readies students to participate effectively in an increasingly pluralistic society. 

In short, a less diverse student body would undermine the impact and effectiveness of the education we offer our students. It would make college graduates less prepared to engage in an interconnected world. 

Finally, an inclusive campus ensures, to borrow from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, that the path to leadership is open to everyone. Higher education continues to be the single best predictor of financial success and upward mobility. As questions of racial justice are asked with renewed urgency, making it harder for talented students from underrepresented groups to attend college would be a profound disserve—to those students and to society.

Just like my surroundings in that Boston courtroom several years ago, my campus in Gettysburg sits on land that defined the course of American history.  A three-day battle was fought here over fundamental concepts of human dignity and equality. This land provides a vivid reminder of the consequences of unresolved polarization and deeply seated prejudice. It tells us that we must not turn back the clock and create more barriers to a truly inclusive society.  

Robert W. Iuliano is president of Gettysburg College and former senior vice president and general counsel at Harvard University.