Affirmative Action Skirmishes Continue

The anti-affirmative-action group Students for Fair Admissions dropped its lawsuit against Yale University after the Ivy League school agreed to overhaul its admissions practices—including removing race as a factor in financial aid considerations and taking new “technological steps” to see that demographic data related to race and ethnicity don’t play a part in admissions decisions. This comes after the Supreme Court ruled in SFFA’s favor in June and struck down race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. However, a footnote in the ruling left open the question of race in admissions at military-service academies. Academy leaders say their admissions processes take many factors into account, especially academic credentials and leadership potential, but SFFA argues they are violating the Fifth Amendment by setting desired percentages of each class to be filled by Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities. The group is now suing the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The Biden administration and some military leaders, on the other hand, say having a diverse officer class is a must for promoting morale and discipline within the armed forces.