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Page Number: 232.0

24  STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT 

AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 
JACKSON, J., dissenting 

The flagship educational institution of a former Confeder-
ate State has embraced its constitutional obligation to af-
ford genuine equal protection to applicants, and, by exten-
sion, to the broader polity that its students will serve after
graduation.   Surely  that  is  progress  for  a  university  that
once  engaged  in  the  kind  of  patently  offensive  race-
dominated admissions process that the majority decries. 

With its holistic review process, UNC now treats race as 
merely one aspect of an applicant’s life, when race played a
totalizing, all-encompassing, and singularly determinative
role for applicants like James for most of this country’s his-
tory: No matter what else was true about him, being Black 
meant he had no shot at getting in (the ultimate race-linked 
uneven playing field).  Holistic programs like UNC’s reflect
the reality that Black students have only relatively recently
been permitted to get into the admissions game at all.  Such 
programs  also  reflect  universities’  clear-eyed  optimism
that, one day, race will no longer matter.

So much upside.  Universal benefits ensue from holistic 
admissions programs that allow consideration of all factors 
material to merit (including race), and that thereby facili-
tate diverse student populations.  Once trained, those UNC 
students who have thrived in the university’s diverse learn-
ing environment are well equipped to make lasting contri-
butions  in  a  variety  of  realms  and  with  a  variety  of  col-
leagues, which, in turn, will steadily decrease the salience 
of race for future generations.  Fortunately, UNC and other 
institutions of higher learning are already on this beneficial 
path.  In fact, all that they have needed to continue moving
this  country  forward  (toward  full  achievement  of  our  Na-
tion’s founding promises) is for this Court to get out of the 
way and let them do their jobs.  To our great detriment, the
majority cannot bring itself to do so. 

B 
The overarching reason the majority gives for becoming