One of the big academic stories of 2023 was the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end the use of race as a criterion in college admissions. The ruling was based on two cases that made their way to the high court, one focused on Harvard University and the other on the University of North Carolina.
Most of the media attention and commentary centered on Harvard. Former president Barack Obama, who attended Harvard Law School, defended the university’s policies as allowing Black students to prove that “we more than deserved a seat at the table.” Michelle Obama, who also attended Harvard Law School, wrote that her heart was breaking for “any young person out there who’s wondering what their future holds—and what kind of chances will be open to them.” Reporting on an analysis of admissions data, the New York Times noted the many ways that Harvard continued to be a bastion of privilege whose admissions criteria “amounted to affirmative action for the children of the 1 percent.”