How California's private universities will be affected by Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action
SACRAMENTO -- A 6-3 Supreme Court decision is sending waves through private university systems.
"We [knew] that this decision was coming down the pike for the last year and we've been preparing for it for a long time," said University of the Pacific Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Mary Lomax-Ghirarduzzi.
Proposition 209 struck down affirmative action in California all the way back in 1996. Back then, it concerned public universities. But the new Supreme Court decision will affect private universities.
"We really are, if anything, unequivocally impacted by this because if you look at our institution we're an emergent Hispanic serving institution," Lomax-Ghirarduzzi said.
UOP says there won't be any change in their approach to how they admit students.
"We feel that we really are in a good position even with the ruling and of course we're disappointed," Lomax-Ghirarduzzi said.
The Conservative Political Action Coalition applauded the decision and called for the elimination of all DEI initiatives, saying "To do otherwise – no matter how well-intentioned -- simply fosters the 'soft bigotry of low expectations.'"
But Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates says the decision -- which referenced California's Prop. 209 -- didn't look hard enough at the impact of that legislation.
"What was not listed up by the justices sufficiently were the outcomes of Prop. 209 in terms of lost contracts and millions of dollars for women and minority-owned business and a 50 percent decrease of Black representation at UCs," Farrell explains.
While at UOP, Lomax-Ghirarduzzi says the next steps are all about action and more than just words.
"It's not just the rhetoric of saying we're committed to diversity, equity and inclusion," Lomax-Ghirarduzzi said. "The hard part is making leadership choices to serve communities where it matters."