U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Decades of Diversity Admissions Practice
On Thursday, 29 June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down four decades of legal precedent allowing race-conscious admissions practice in higher education. The Court found that pursuing diversity in an institution’s student body through the consideration of race violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. constitution.
TESOL International Association expresses grave concerns about the short- and long-term impact of this decision as higher education seeks to support and elevate marginalized students, many of whom are multilingual learners of English. The outcomes of this decision will unfold across time, with potentially perilous effects when the U.S. is already facing a variety of state legislative efforts removing diversity, silencing the LBGTQ+ community, and severely quieting the inclusion of Black, brown, and Asian students.
TESOL applauds President Biden’s commitment to Promote Educational Opportunity and Diversity in Colleges and University, and TESOL will continue to work with our members, the English language teaching profession, and colleague associations in support of diversity at all levels of education in the U.S. and across the globe. Visit the TESOL Action Center today to voice support for increased funding of the Higher Education Act’s Teacher Quality Partnership and for the Reaching English Learners Act, which will increase funding to attract, recruit, and prepare more English language educators.