The Wall Street Journal spent time on campuses around the country Thursday after the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional to consider race in university admissions. Student reactions ranged from full-throated support to anger. Here’s what they told us.
Yana Chess, 22, New York University
“More people of color in a school is a good thing,” said Chess, a drama student who said she disagreed with the decision. “We have to introduce an alternative” to affirmative action, she said.
Bea Oyster/The Wall Street Journal
Norah Gelhaus, 20, DePaul University, Chicago
Gelhaus, a rising junior who is a public- policy major, learned the news from an Instagram post by former President Barack Obama, and said she was troubled by it.
Joe Barrett/The Wall Street Journal
"I definitely think race should be included, just because of historical discrimination that has stopped minorities from having equal opportunities," said Gelhaus, of Wausau, Wis.
Other factors in admissions such as family connections deserve a harder look, she said. "I feel like we have been knowing that none of those things have been fair," she said. "It's like that whole legacy stuff and generational wealth—you can clearly see that it's not fair."
Manuel Vizurraga, 33, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Vizurraga, who completed an artist's-certificate program, said the Supreme Court's decision was great.
Shannon Najmabadi/The Wall Street Journal
"I just think everyone should get an equal opportunity—not really a bias towards just one specific race," said Vizurraga, a pianist. "I think it shouldn't come down to the race but just the quality of the person's credentials or what they can do for the institution."
For musicians, he said, just one thing counts: “We're just factored by the audition.”
Mallory Gard, 19, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Gard, who is enrolled in a six-year medical degree program, said she learned about the ruling on Instagram.
Katie Currid for the Wall Street Journal
"I was like, 'Oh, another blow.' Because I feel like a lot of things lately have been happening that haven't been good," she said, citing the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Gard said race should be a factor in admissions and that affirmative action can help level the playing field.
"Systemically, the workforce and the education system, it was built to educate white men," she said. "So using race …understands that there's multifaceted people that want to join the college force.”
Reese Terry, 21, Johns Hopkins University
Terry, a rising senior from Charleston, S.C., majoring in psychology and French with a minor in Africana Studies, said she was disheartened by the ruling because she thought race should be a factor in college-admissions decisions.
Scott Calvert/The Wall Street Journal
“I think it should be taken into account, especially looking at America and the way that this country was built upon injustice, and how that continues to factor into access to education, specifically higher education today,” she said. Considering an applicant’s athletic ability or legacy status in admissions but not race represents a “double standard,” she said.
"I think if you're going to consider other factors, race should continue to be a factor.”
Nathaniel Lim, 22, New York University
Lim, who is studying molecular biology, said he didn’t know where he stood on race playing a role in college acceptance.
Bea Oyster/The Wall Street Journal
But he said he felt strongly that people shouldn’t be admitted based on another factor, whether their relatives went to the school.
“Legacy is not based on anything,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re qualified.”
Margia Adriano, 21, University of California, Los Angeles
Adriano, who is studying psychobiology with a minor in Asian-American studies, heard the news Thursday morning on a group chat. “It was pretty disappointing,” she said.
Suryatapa Bhattacharya/The Wall Street Journal
“From where I stand on this situation, race should be considered to an extent given the history of segregation in this country. It would be unethical to not include, especially since a lot of POC communities have historically been excluded.”
Madison Edwards, 21, New York University
Edwards, who was leaving the school’s library Thursday afternoon, said she hadn’t yet heard of the decision, but said she was against it.
Bea Oyster/The Wall Street Journal
“I think race does play a role and trying to address it is not necessarily a bad thing,” the film student said. “Trying to draw back these measures is a reactionary impulse towards the status quo.”
Anouska Ortiz, 18, Harvard University
Ortiz, a rising sophomore, was texting her friends about the Supreme Court decision shortly after it was released this morning. Ortiz, who identifies as Mexican, said race helped with her college application.
Sarah Chaney Cambon/The Wall Street Journal
“Affirmative action allowed me to tell my story authentically and allowed me to tell who Anouska is to the Harvard admissions,” Ortiz said.
“I think I’m like one of the first students in a decade from my high school to attend a top 20 college.”
Matthew Plichta, 21, University of Pittsburgh
Plichta, a rising senior majoring in Russian, said he thought it was “kind of ridiculous” that admissions officers won’t be able to consider race while still using other non-academic factors to make decisions on college applicants.
Kris Maher/The Wall Street Journal
“I’m kind of surprised it happened, but then I’m also not surprised because I know it’s something conservatives have wanted to do for a while,” he said.
He said he believes race should sometimes be considered as a factor for people in racial minorities from disenfranchised backgrounds. “It could be an important thing to consider. It just depends on a lot of factors,” he said.
Beautiful Sheriff, 23, Rice University
Sheriff, 23, a second-year master’s student in the opera department, said she heard about the ruling through an email her school sent out.
Adolfo Flores/The Wall Street Journal
One line in the email quoting Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent stood out to Sheriff: “Deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”
“Race is just a part of how this country was formed and is today,” Sheriff said.
Taking race out of the equation for college admission and believing universities will now simply accept the most qualified student puts underserved communities at a disadvantage, Sheriff said.
Cover photo: The Harvard University campus on Thursday. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Additional reporting by: Adolfo Flores, Joe Barrett, Shannon Najmabadi, Sarah Chaney Cambon, Scott Calvert, Joe Pisani, Surya Bhattacharya, and Kris Maher
Produced by: Ariel Zambelich
This article may be updated.