My Alma Mater Needs Affirmative Action

Ram mascot at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill football game / Photo by Gene Gallin on Unsplash

I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1976, when it was still resisting broad desegregation efforts. Black students created our own support system, sometimes leading to protests.

Today, just 8 percent of the undergraduate population is Black, compared to the state’s 21 percent Black population.

That’s embarrassing to those who sought to blaze a trail for diversity. More frustrating, Supreme Court justices indicate the university should stop current, tepid diversity efforts.

Despite earlier rulings weakening affirmative action, the court heard arguments Monday about UNC’s use of race — among dozens of other factors— during admissions. Although UNC is following earlier rulings, conservative justices are impatient for a time race shouldn’t matter.

That time has not come — for UNC and other colleges. Yet the court’s decision is likely to result in fewer minorities at top colleges, and in graduates unprepared to lead this diverse nation.

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