Cara McClellan (’17), Director and Associate Practice Professor of the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, authored an opinion for Penn Law’s The Regulatory Review considering how colleges and universities may meaningfully address discrimination in education following the recent SCOTUS ruling in SFFA v. Harvard (“What’s Left, And What’s Next, for Racial Diversity in College Admissions,” Jul. 17). “[I]t is critical to remember that universities have an affirmative duty to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing regulations that require eliminating unjustifiable policies that disproportionately exclude students of color. Universities should carefully review policies, such as legacy admissions, which have the effect of disadvantaging students whose families lacked access to institutions of higher education in previous generations and disproportionately favoring white and wealthy applicants. . . . Although the Supreme Court’s decision will more deeply entrench inequality in educational opportunity, advocates fighting for racial justice are already reimagining what it means to pursue education equity in a multiracial democracy.”
