Despite the decision of U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration to push for courts to allow colleges more authority to implement affirmative action programs, Boston University officials said recent developments will not affect BU policies.
“We comply with the law as it is, and we consider students in a holistic way when looking at admissions,” said BU spokesman Colin Riley. “This court case doesn’t apply to BU at this time.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision that courts could not approve racially-based college admission programs simply because of the institutions’ “good faith,” the Obama administration filed a brief Thursday that said universities should still have some leeway to decide what level of diversity is most appropriate for their school.
“A court should independently review a university’s determination that it has not attained sufficient diversity, while giving due regard to the university’s findings reflecting its educational judgment and expertise,” the brief stated.
In Fisher v. University of Texas, a white woman named Abigail Fisher claimed she was denied admission from the university because of her race.
This summer, the Supreme Court disputed a decision made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sending the case back to the lower court for further consideration of whether the affirmative action programs in place at the University of Texas are constitutional.
In the brief, the administration calls for the lower court to further examine whether the programs in place at the University of Texas help the college to achieve the “critical mass” or “the point at which a university has attained sufficient diversity to achieve the educational benefits of diversity.”
Riley said BU has been successful in recent years in increasing its population of minority students. The Class of 2017 is 4.9 percent African American, 9.6 percent Hispanic and 14.5 percent Asian American, with students from 46 states and the District of Columbia.
“We have very strong recruiting, and we’ve done a very good job,” he said. “We’ve seen increased applicants and a significant improvement in those numbers over the years in applicants in underrepresented minorities.”
School of Management sophomore Zack Robinson, who works as a BU tour guide in the admissions office, said the BU Admissions Student Diversity Board works to recruit students with different backgrounds, although he would not consider it affirmative action.
“They [ASDB] do a lot of recruiting to try and recruit a more diverse student body, so that’s not really affirmative action because it’s not selection and priority based on certain criteria, but it is recruiting a more diverse population to try and apply to BU,” he said.
Robinson said affirmative action programs are important in promoting diversity at schools, as well as ensuring equal opportunities among U.S. citizens.
“The reason why it’s important for minority communities is because of the way history worked out, a lot of different minority groups have less opportunities,” he said. “You can look statistically and see that really easily. So, affirmative action isn’t giving priority to certain minorities or taking away spots from white people. It’s just helping to level the playing field for everyone.”
College of Communication junior Rachel Podber said BU adequately attracts and promotes diversity among students.
“I’ve definitely gotten to know a lot of students from different backgrounds and places and cultures,” she said. “There’s a really good mix of different people at BU.”
School of Public Health graduate student Ashley Fryer said she supports affirmative action programs at colleges and universities.
“It’s important to create opportunity and to recognize that a lot of students who are colored have been disenfranchised for long periods of time,” she said. “To assume that someone can just advocate for themselves and step up into a position, you overlook a lot of the social factors that play into that. A lot of times, more of a structural change needs to happen.”
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