The Real Story Behind the Demographic Swings in MIT Admissions

Devon WesthillEducation

This article first appeared on The Federalist Society The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) became the first highly selective college to release data on the racial composition of the class of 2028. Significantly, this is the first opportunity the public has had to examine the impact of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to prohibit race-based affirmative action in admissions at elite universities. The MIT report shows stark demographic changes for incoming first-year students from the previous year. While the percentage of white matriculants remained largely unchanged—a drop of just one percentage point from the class of 2027—the …

Life After Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard | Old Parkland Conference

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation

Now that the Supreme Court has found racial preferences in college admissions to be unconstitutional, how will elite higher education respond? Will they abandon racial preferences or work harder to conceal them? Legal experts will discuss the implications of the Students for Fair Admissions decision for admissions offices and what’s to come in the battle over affirmative action. Speakers: Rick Banks, Devon Westhill, Renu Mukherjee, and Mene Ukueberuwa Highlights from the Event | OLD PARKLAND CONFERENCE 2024 Inspired by the 1980 Fairmont Conference and building on the success of the 2022 Old Parkland Conference, the 2024 Old Parkland Conference brought together leaders …

Supreme Court opens door even wider for racial discrimination in schools

Devon WesthillEducation

Apparently, eliminating racial discrimination doesn’t mean eliminating all of it. That seems to be the takeaway from the Supreme Court’s refusal last month to grant a review of Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board. It has been no secret to anyone that the Fairfax County, Virginia, board and administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School — who were sued — had colluded in changing the admissions process at the school intentionally to discriminate against high-achieving 13- and 14-year-old Asian applicants. The Wall Street Journal reported two years ago on the text messages and emails between the powers that be …

10th Annual Federalist Society Florida Chapters Conference Panel on Students for Fair Admissions

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation

The panel discussed how these decisions are transforming the admissions process in higher education and the impact on the legal profession. Included in the discussion will be the response from academia, the permissible limits of the use of race in admissions after these decisions, and what impact this is expected to have on corporate America and the legal profession. Featuring: Prof. Tracey Maclin, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Chair in US Constitutional Law , University of Florida Levin College of LawCameron Norris, Partner, Consovoy McCarthy PLLCDevon Westhill, President and General Counsel, Center for Equal OpportunityModerator: Hon. Meredith Sasso, Justice, Florida Supreme …

SFFA and Beyond [NLC 2023]

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation

This year the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Court held that the admissions programs of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court’s ruling elevates a colorblind reading of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the college admissions context, the decision makes unconstitutional certain policies that would favor one applicant over another on the basis of that applicant’s race. College admissions offices across the country will have to alter the policies they’ve used for decades. How …

No White Faculty Allowed

Anthony PericoloEducation

At the University of Washington, civil rights laws have not stopped blatant racial discrimination in faculty hiring. This article originally appeared in The City Journal on Dec 6, 2023 by CEO Visiting Fellow Anthony Pericolo and Anita Kinney. A recent internal investigation into faculty hiring at the University of Washington reveals the exhaustive efforts that universities make to discriminate against white job applicants. After the university’s Department of Psychology identified a white candidate as best qualified for a tenure-track professor position in early 2023, the department’s Diversity Advisory Committee pressured the hiring committee to re-rank candidates in accordance with the methodology …

Will the Supreme Court reaffirm its decision to end race-based admissions?

Anthony PericoloEducation

This article original appeared on the Washington Examiner After the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that universities could not discriminate in college admissions based on race, top lawyers on the Left rushed to contain the fallout. Expressing that she was “disturbed” by the “deliberate overread of the recent court decisions,” President Joe Biden’s assistant secretary of education for civil rights, Catherine Lhamon, insisted that schools could grant race-based scholarships and host race-segregated events. And former Obama Solicitor General Don Verilli made it clear that if he has his way, K-12 schools can discriminate against white …

CEO Challenging Discrimination at VA High School

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation

The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) has filed an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States supporting petitioners in the case of Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board (the Board). The case involves a challenge to the racially discriminatory overhaul of the admissions practices at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. In urging the Court to take the case, CEO explained that the Board has a long and sordid history of manipulating admissions practices at the elite magnet high school for racial purposes. Specifically, to lower the number of high-achieving …

New Study Documents Racial and Ethnic Preferences in University of Maryland Admissions

CEO StaffDocuments, Education, Press Releases

(College Park, MD) A new study released today by the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) documents evidence of discrimination based on race and ethnicity in admissions at the University of Maryland at  College Park. African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latinos are admitted with significantly lower  undergraduate grade-point averages and SAT scores in the fall freshmen class of 2021 than whites and,  again to a lesser extent, Asians. The study suggests the University will have to make substantive  changes to its admissions procedures if it is to comply with the Supreme Court rulings in SFFA v.  Harvard and SFFA …

Devon Westhill and Jin Hee Lee on Supreme Court’s Recent Decisions on Affirmative Action

CEO StaffEducation

Devon Westhill and Jin Hee Lee talked about the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. This is part of a week long series looking at key 2022-23 Supreme Court cases. Related posts: Opening Statement of Devon Westhill House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Update on the Struggle against Universities’ Affirmative Discrimination Keeping up with CEO Good Briefs in the Harvard Case