SW News: After the US Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in higher education, American bishops reiterated the significance of providing marginalized racial groups with access to education.

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry of Chicago, the head of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement on July 7 that education is a gift, an opportunity, and an essential component of democracy that is not always within the reach of all.

"We hope that our Catholic higher education institutions will keep looking for ways to make education accessible and affordable for everyone, regardless of background."

St Elizabeth Drexel was cited in the pastoral letter from the American bishops from 2018 titled "Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love." St Drexel, a pioneer of Catholic education, said: "If we seek to serve God and love our neighbor as ourselves, we must show our joy in the service we provide to him and them. Let's let our hearts be wide open. Joy is what beckons us. Do not be afraid; move forward.”

In its ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard on June 29, the US Supreme Court addressed the affirmative action policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. All American universities, including Catholic ones, were impacted by the decision.

The nation's top court effectively abolished public and private institutions' authority to use racial affirmative action in their admissions choices in its 6-3 ruling, which was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

To improve the representation of minorities on their campuses, many institutions have adopted affirmative action in their admissions processes for many years. Affirmative action, according to some, favors the admission of some ethnic minorities at the expense of others, frequently harming Asian students.
"Harvard's consideration of race has resulted in an 11.1% decrease in the number of Asian-Americans admitted to Harvard," Roberts stated in the decision.
The decision was sharply criticized by administrators from a large number of distinct Catholic universities as well as by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU). The organization was established in 1899 and claims to be the "voice of Catholic higher education."

The ACCU claimed in a statement dated June 29 that the choice disregards the effects of continued racism in our society. The ruling, it argued, undercuts higher education's voluntary attempts to address the evil of racism in a society that provides too few solutions.

The statement further stated that the ACCU would endeavor to behave under the Supreme Court's ruling and would continue to be inspired by Catholic social teaching to create pathways by which those in society who do not share the ACCU's values can move forward.