BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK
SUPREME COURT ENDS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
The biggest college-related news of the week is, of course, the Supreme Court’s decision last Thursday that did away with the use of race in college admissions. We have been getting a ton of questions from you about this decision and how it will impact this admissions cycle, so look out for more information in our FAQ blog post later this week.
GRADUATE CHARGED IN ASSAULT CASE AT UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Also on Thursday, a 24-year-old recent graduate of the University of Waterloo was charged with assault for stabbing two students and a professor in a gender studies class. The attack is believed to be a hate crime, targeting gender identity and gender expression.
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE PROFESSOR GUILTY OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found a professor at Maryland’s Montgomery College guilty of sexual harassment and violation of Title IX after he required his female students to remove their shirts and commented on their bodies, allegedly to demonstrate a medical examination. The professor was fired after it was determined that his class created “a hostile environment on the basis of sex.”
DEBATE OVER “PROBLEM OF WHITENESS” COURSE AT UCHICAGO
The “Chicago statement,” a 2014 declaration in support of free speech on campus at the University of Chicago, has been a guideline for other schools for years when it comes to campus speech. The statement came under question this year when a UChicago sophomore and conservative activist shared the name, photo, and email address of Professor Rebecca Journey, who was scheduled to teach a seminar called “The Problem of Whiteness.” The student has not received any disciplinary action in response, and others at the university continue to debate what constitutes free speech and what can be considered “cyberabuse.”
BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
Lots of articles to share this week in the wake of the affirmative action decision! This one from the New York Times discusses how race-neutral admissions may lead to the entire process becoming more subjective, with more emphasis on personal qualities (and the essay) and less emphasis on grades and test scores, in an effort for admissions offices to retain diversity without explicitly considering race. The Atlantic explores the particular impact that this decision may have on the admissions essay, arguing that the decision will mean that more students will need to shoehorn race-related incidents into their admissions essays, leading to more formulaic personal statements. And NPR reviews how the UC system responded to the ban on affirmative action established for California public universities in 1996, which may provide some insight into how other colleges will respond to the ban in the coming months and years. We think we might see more colleges going the way of the UCs and becoming test blind in an effort to maintain their diversity - more on this soon!
OFFICE HAPPENINGS
Our office is closed tomorrow for the holiday - wishing everyone a happy Fourth of July!
If you’re on the beach this week, don’t forget to check out our 2023 Fiction Summer Reading List and 2023 Nonfiction Summer Reading List. And I have an extra recommendation for parents - I’ve been making my way through Dr. Becky’s Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and I can’t get over how spot-on it is. I wish I had read it sooner! :)