Warren Wilson College Response to Supreme Court Ruling Against Race-Based Admissions
Becca Boynton | September 7, 2023
On Aug. 29, Warren Wilson College’s (WWC) Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) held an online conference in response to the June Supreme Court ruling addressing race-based admissions in higher education institutions.
The meeting, led by M. Z. Yehudah Ph.D., WWC director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), introduces Lunch and Learn Sessions; a new campus-wide meeting for students and faculty alike. The OIE will lead these sessions and aim to tackle inclusion and diversity on campus.
“We have a wide variety of topics we would like to discuss based on feedback,” Yehudah stated, commencing the discussion.
The conference covered a wide range of topics. The main point is to address the SCOTUS ruling and discuss how it impacts WWC. Administrators Bob Nesmith and Melissa Davis joined Yehudah in tackling this controversial verdict.
The ruling, passed in late June of 2023, states that Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause with their admission processes — asserting that considering race and diversity during college admission is implicit bias and unconstitutional.
“This is about admission processes at very selective colleges,” Nesmith said.
Harvard and UNC are two of the top-ranked institutions of higher education in America. Admission processes are selective, however are in desperate need of increased diversity. The SCOTUS ruling removes colleges of higher ranking ability to accept students based on race.
Warren Wilson’s admission process will not change drastically based on the recent SCOTUS decision. Endowed scholarships given to students based on their race and ethnicity will be re-evaluated as a result and college admissions will no longer be able to see an applicant’s race on documents.
WWC’s admission process is holistic, relying on essays from incoming students. Applicants will still retain the choice to discuss their identity in their essays, whether that is race, sexual orientation or ethnicity.
“This does not restrict us from using race,” Yehudah said. “If we are to be a leader in social justice and equity, these are the times that we will earn our standing.”
WWC admissions will now evaluate scholarship and financial aid to ensure no racial bias is occurring. They are also providing implicit bias training for staff and faculty.
WWC is still working on its inclusion and diversity, introducing new scholarships for student leaders in diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Diversity is good, but inclusion is especially required of us to move forward,” Yehudah said. “We are creating spaces where people feel they belong.”
WWC and other schools alike have a long way to go with inclusion and diversity. This meeting is the first of many coming up that will allow the campus to be a safer community for marginalized students.
“Each one of us has an influence on some area of the community culture and climate,” Davis said.