On Sept. 25, 2023, We-Ha.com published in article I wrote about college admissions following the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and the University of North Carolina (https://we-ha.com/college-bound-what-do-you-do-now-college-admissions-after-affirmative-action/).

This past Friday evening, Feb. 14, 2025, Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, sent new guidance based on that decision in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter to K-12 schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country. That letter can be accessed here: https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf.

In it he states that “institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.” Trainor’s letter claims that the SFFA ruling is to be more broadly applied and in addition to prohibiting considerations of race in college admissions, also prohibits it in “hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.” This guidance, in other words, goes well beyond admissions and includes other programs educational institutions may establish – a Black student club, for example – that help give students a sense of place and comfort as minorities in largely white institutions.

The letter goes on to say, “… a school may not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues as a means of determining or predicting a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students. … Relying on non-racial information as a proxy for race, and making decisions based on that information, violates the law. That is true whether the proxies are used to grant preferences on an individual basis or a systematic one. It would, for instance, be unlawful for an educational institution to eliminate standardized testing to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity.”

In my 2023 article I wrote, “In short, SCOTUS has scuttled affirmative action. U.S. colleges and universities may no longer consider race, among other factors, to select applicants for admission. But, Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, did leave the door slightly ajar with this statement: ‘Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life.’ So, how confused are we? Very.”

So now we are even more confused. My own interpretation of the “Dear Colleague” letter is that the Office for Civil Rights is saying that Chief Justice Roberts got it wrong.

The threat of losing federal funding hangs over all of this. In the days to come there will be more information and interpretations and, perhaps, more “guidance” from the Office for Civil Rights. I will also be participating in a webinar sponsored by The Chronicle of Higher Education on Thursday on what colleges can expect under the new Trump administration. It was scheduled prior to the sending of this new “Dear Colleague” letter but I am certain this letter will become a top item for discussion. I will keep you posted.

Adrienne Leinwand Maslin recently retired from a 45-year career in higher education administration. She has worked at public and private institutions, urban and rural, large and small, and two-year and four-year, and is Dean Emerita at CT State-Middlesex. She has held positions in admissions, affirmative action, president’s office, human resources, academic affairs, and student affairs. Adrienne has a BA from the University of Vermont, an MEd from Boston University, and a PhD from the University of Oregon. She is presently writing a series of graphic novels on life skills and social issues for 8-12 year olds believing that the more familiar youngsters are with important social issues the easier their transition to college and adulthood will be. Information about this series as well as contact information can be found at www.adrienneleinwandmaslin.com.

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