Positive Action Guidelines Abandoned by the Trump Administration

The Trump Administration on Tuesday canceled the Obama-era guidelines on race-based admission policies – just as the Conservatives see a new opening to end the race. 39 positive action by a changing Supreme Court.

Battle of the court on Harvard admission policies – which has emerged as the next front in the fight over racial admissions – is heating up.Civil rights groups see the decision of the administration Trump as part of a greater effort to eliminate affirmative action by the Supreme Court, although The Justice Department announced that it was eliminating 24 federal referral documents deemed " unnecessary, outdated, incompatible with existing regulations ".

Seven of them were jointly issued documents with the Civil Rights Bureau of the Department of Education under the Obama administration, which were asking school principals and colleges to consider race by trying to diversify their campuses.

The universities, however, were already swearing to stick to their admission policies, despite the overthrow of the Trump administration.

"Four decades of jurisprudence clearly shows that race and ethnicity can be a factor among others." In a statement, Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Territorial Universities, said: said: "Public universities will continue to operate in accordance with the Constitution, state legislation and court rulings to ensure that they promote"

Harvard is committed to "Continue to vigorously defend its right, and that of all colleges and universities, to consider race as a factor among others in admissions to college, which has been confirmed by the Supreme Council." Court of more than 40 years. "

The largest lobbying group of higher education also rebuffed." The Trump administration sends precisely the wrong message to institutions "Ted Mitchell, president of the US Council on Education

"Colleges and universities that consider race and ethnicity as a factor in an overall review of admissions are determined to follow the law of the land. And do not get me wrong, it's the law of the land. Today's announcement does not change that, "said Mitchell, a former member of the Obama Administration Education Department

At the same time time, some documents have been deleted, the restored administration on the website of the Department of Education.The positive action movement is one of the first by the new head of civil rights of the Department of Education, Kenneth Marcus, who was confirmed by the Senate last month.In a Supreme Court judgment, he argued that "the standards of admission based on race are unfair to individuals and unhealthy for society as a whole. "[19659008] He wrote in a letter from Dear College about the decision Tuesday that the Obama Guidelines "advocate political preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution, Title IV, and Title VI. "

Education Department officials did not respond to requests for comment. The plans of the administration on the councils were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The Supreme Court has ruled several times that colleges and universities may use race in admissions, as long as its use is "closely tailored". But the High Court's support for policies could erode with the departure of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has been a key vote on the issue and has written multiple decisions supporting college-based admission policies. on the race.

More recently, Kennedy wrote a notice in favor of the University of Texas at Austin in 2016 against Abigail Fisher, a white woman who pursued school in 2008 after he was denied admission. Kennedy wrote that "a considerable deference is due to a university in defining these intangible characteristics, such as the diversity of student bodies, which are central to its educational identity and mission."

His departure could open the door to positive action and many see the Harvard affair as the next best move.

The University defends its admission policies against a lawsuit accusing the school of discriminating against American applicants of Asian descent – a legal challenge backed by Ed Blum, an activist affirmed anti-discrimination that also pushed the challenge to UT Austin. The Justice Department of the Trump Administration has participated in this court battle at Harvard and has launched its own investigation into school admissions policies.

"The federal government has decided to question Harvard's admission policies, stating that the decision to cancel this direction is part of a concerted effort to dismantle diversity efforts in the country. higher education, "said Todd Cox, political director of the NAACP. Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which helped defend UT Austin's admissions policies.

"I guess the Harvard affair … is why the Justice Department is doing what it does today," said Anurima Bhargava, who headed the division Civil Rights Department of Justice under the Obama administration. The Trump administration is scrapped. "They probably want to weigh in to say something different from what was said in the business of the University of Texas."

The Justice Department of Obama sided with UT Austin in the Fisher case.

Ilya Shapiro, a constitutional studies researcher from the Cato Institute who opposes positive action, said that he could see the Harvard affair "getting positive results. to the Supreme Court in a year and a half or two years. "

" In a post-Kennedy court, it is certainly an area where the law could change, "said Shapiro.

He said that the move to bring down the Obama era guidelines is "a shot in 1965."

"On the one hand, it will mean the directors will no longer be in able to maintain the guidelines as a justification of what they do if they are ever brought to justice, "said Shapiro." This indicates that the party is over – you really need to evaluate your programs and to make sure that you can demonstrate that you have used social services and socio-economic preferences and that you have looked at these other things … Make sure you do not use the race

However, the documents from the department of Education that were removed Tuesday go beyond the di positive discrimination.

They include 2011 guidelines issued by the Obama administration for public schools that detailed a number of ways in which school districts can consider diversity without making decisions based on the race of individual students. Obama's guidelines insist that school districts must "use neutral approaches only if they are achievable." But when they are not, "school districts can use race-based approaches."

Noelle Ellerson Ng, Associate Executive Director The Association of School Superintendents stated that Obama never made a splash with nationwide school directors that his organization represents. She simply highlighted suggestions for local communities who identified diversity as a priority, she said.

Now it is feared that school districts will not be able to consider these avenues without consequences, if the Trump administration adheres strictly to the guidelines.

"If schools decide to use race as a factor when they examine how they classify elementary or middle schools, for example, this might be suspected in the new Trump scheme", was -she says.

Josh Gerstein, Kimberly Hefling and Caitlin Emma contributed to this report