IU said in a statement last week it’s reviewing the court’s decision and reaffirms its commitment to fostering a learning environment enriched by students, faculty, and staff with a broad range of backgrounds.
(Devan Ridgway, WTIU News)
Indiana universities like IU Bloomington, Purdue, and Notre Dame did use race-conscious admissions.
Domestic enrolled students of color have slowly increased at IU, with nearly 12,000 in fall 2022. But white enrollment is still more than twice that–at nearly 30,000 students.
The biggest increases in diversity have been with Asian American and Hispanic and Latino groups.
IU student enrollment fall 2022 (Screenshot)
Enrollment of African American students hasn’t changed much since 2017–falling between 1,900 to 2,000 students.
Vice President of IU’s Black Student Union Charleigh Carter knew the stats when she chose IU and was worried. A first-generation college student, she found a tight-knit community and resources at IU BSU and at places like the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.
“So, I think that was very important," Carter said. "I felt like I belonged, I didn't really feel out of place, you know. Having those things here before coming to IU, it made me feel safe and secure.”
She said in-person recruitment in diverse areas will be important if universities don’t want decreases in applicants following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Carter waits at the elevator of the Student Involvement Tower. (WTIU News, Bente Bouthier)
“But I think it's just going to cause Black students and brown students and minorities just to have to go to HBCUs because that is their only option, not even a last option or whatever, it's their only option.”
Rain Lee is a first-generation college student from Carmel. She’s the treasurer of the Asian American Association at IU and says most Asian Americans are not in favor of the Supreme Court’s decision and won’t benefit from it.
“Having affirmative action helps barriers, a lot people who are picking maybe between schools, and the difference is amount of scholarship money," Lee said. "It can be really easily differentiated and helped with affirmative action."
She’s a finance major in the Kelley School of Business and said her peers are mostly white.
“You learn from your peers, you learn from your teammates," she said. "So, if I'm the diversity token, what am I really learning from? I'm being surrounded by white people. And I've been surrounded by white people my entire life growing up. In many ways, they're learning a lot about cultural differences, or just small little things from me. And I'm learning what I've already known, what I've grown up with my entire life.”
Lee, at her family's home in Carmel, Ind. She said diverse organizations at IU need the university's support to create safe places for students to help with retention. (WTIU News, Bente Bouthier)
Lee said the removal of race-based admissions meant groups supporting diversity would be more important in creating safe places on campus. She wants the university to recognize that through financial support.
Professor Emeritus at the O’Neill School of Public Environmental Affairs Les Lenkowsky said the Supreme Court’s decision would mostly affect people applying to elite schools and isn’t as far-reaching as people think.
“We need to do a much better job of providing educational services for minorities, prior to college and university," Lenkowsky said. "The question, though, is whether or not a person's chances in life are going to be significantly affected if he or she goes to Cal State Northridge rather than the University of California at Berkeley. Or to put it in our terms, let's say Indiana State versus Indiana University.”
A Big 10 Law panel Wednesday discussed the Supreme Court’s decision and its approach to the Equal Protections Clause, which took a color-blind view of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. UCLA law Professor Cheryl Harris said there was no historical basis for a color-blind approach.
A panel of professors, put together by the Big 10 schools. Cheryl Harris (bottom right) said the majority on the Supreme Court take a traditionalist approach to the Constitution, but that doesn't have to mean a colorblind reading of the Equal Protections Clause. (Zoom)
"There's nothing in the text of the 14th amendment that says colorblindness," Harris said. "It says, 'There'll be no denial of equal protection.' And that leaves open the question of whether or not there may be times when the government can take note of race or make a race-based distinction and still deliver protection."
Carter said the Black Student Union planned to help get people registered to vote in 2024.
“It's about the fact that you can really change the country like by voting," Carter said. "You can change laws that you don't like, you can have a say on that."
She said IU has resources to encourage diversity and needs to be a good listener when issues arise.
IU said in a statement last week that it’s reviewing the court’s decision and reaffirms its commitment to fostering a learning environment enriched by students, faculty, and staff with a broad range of backgrounds.
