colleges and universities can no longer use race as a factor in their college admissions, removing affirmative action from academics—and some businesses could find their own hiring practices suddenly under new scrutiny.Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Alvin Tillery, a political science professor and director of Northwestern’s Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy, toldthose lawsuits will surely come, but expects companies will still be able “to set targets and baseline goals around diversifying their workplace.” Tillery said companies genuinely committed to doing the work will find a way to continue amid backlash—likely by reframing their practices to “drop the diversity angle” and focus on the requirement to not discriminate through the Civil Rights Act—and companies that aren’t committed will just stop talking about it.
Stacy Hawkins, a vice dean of law at Rutgers University specializing in employment law and diversity, echoed that, saying if the court’s decision is narrowly focused on academic admission practices, it shouldn’t have direct implications for employers’ hiring or diversity practices. Don Harris, associate dean and equity, diversity and inclusion liaison at Temple University School of Law, agreed with Hawkins, saying because the decision was narrowly focused on academics, it shouldn’t affect anything outside of that, though he warned it could encourage future litigation.