Congressional Black Caucus Issues Statement Regarding Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (NV-04) and members of the Congressional Black Caucus issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC.

“Since 1978, the Supreme Court has held that race-based admissions policies in colleges and universities can be administered in keeping with the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Precedents set decades ago in the landmark Bakke decision have given students – regardless of their race or ethnicity – a better chance at equal admissions to our nation's top schools, and our country has been made better for it. By delivering a decision on affirmative action so radical as to deny young people seeking an education equal opportunity in our education system, the Supreme Court has thrown into question its own legitimacy.

“Unfortunately, we have seen backlash to progress many times throughout our nation’s history. During Reconstruction, we had a mere 12 years of Black achievement in policy, politics, the arts and sciences, and education that were followed by 70 years of state-sanctioned Jim Crow. We didn't stop fighting for equality then and we won’t stop now because too much is at stake to allow extremists to turn back the clock on progress.

“The Congressional Black Caucus is proud to stand alongside our colleagues of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) to fight for equal opportunity in admissions and to push back strongly against attempts to use this as a cultural wedge issue to pit communities of color against one another because our nation's diversity is our greatest strength.”

NAACP Condemns SCOTUS Ruling on Affirmative Action

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued extreme decisions reversing decades of precedent on affirmative action. The court's rulings in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. University of North Carolina jeopardize hard-fought progress for Black Americans in classrooms and beyond.

NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson released the following statement reaffirming the Association's commitment to tools that support equal access to higher education for Black students:

"Today the Supreme Court has bowed to the personally held beliefs of an extremist minority. We will not allow hate-inspired people in power to turn back the clock and undermine our hard-won victories. The tricks of America's dark past will not be tolerated. Let me be clear - affirmative action exists because we cannot rely on colleges, universities, and employers to enact admissions and hiring practices that embrace diversity, equity and inclusion. Race plays an undeniable role in shaping the identities of and quality of life for Black Americans. In a society still scarred by the wounds of racial disparities, the Supreme Court has displayed a willful ignorance of our reality. The NAACP will not be deterred nor silenced in our fight to hold leaders and institutions accountable for their role in embracing diversity no matter what."

READ: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissent in Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling

Read Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissent over the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on affirmative action in college admissions, in which she asserts that it will not bring a quicker end to racism.

Jackson Dissent by George L. Cook III on Scribd

Judge Rules That a Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Againts the state of Florida by Florida A&M University Students May Proceed

In September 2022, six students at historically Black Florida A&M University in Tallahassee filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the state of Florida. A federal judge recently ruled that the litigation can move forward. The suit claims that the state is discriminating against African Americans because Florida A&M receives less funding per student than the University of Florida.

The plaintiffs call for the state to commit to equity in its support of historically Black colleges and universities. They seek injunctive relief under various laws, including Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in federally funded programs.

According to the complaint, the University of Florida receives a larger state appropriation per student than FAMU – over 33 years, from 1987 to 2020, that shortfall amounted to approximately $1.3 billion. Moreover, the complaint alleges that the state supports programming and courses of study at Florida State University, a traditionally White university also located in Tallahassee, that unnecessarily duplicates programming at FAMU, which steers prospective students toward Florida State.

Founded more than 130 years ago, Florida A&M University is “still playing catch-up in the state of Florida, which we feel has acted with an astonishing lack of good faith, despite decades of directives from the federal government that all students in the state receive equal educational opportunities,” said Josh Dubin, the attorney representing the plaintiffs. “This deliberate indifference toward HBCUs is not unique to Florida, but FAMU is where we’re joining the fight to ensure the education is fair for everyone.”

Dr. Tony D. Hawkins Appointed President of Broome Community College

Tony D. Hawkins was named president of Broome Community College in Binghamton, a campus of the State University of New York System. He will take office on July 1.

Broome Community College enrolls just over 4,700 students, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 10 percent of the student body.

Dr. Hawkins has served for the past eight years as the provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, continuing education, and workforce development at Frederick Community College in Maryland. Prior to this role, he was the college-wide dean of humanities at Montgomery College in Maryland with oversight of a division that included course offerings in history, political science, world languages, philosophy, American Sign Language, and women’s and gender studies, along with two learning centers. Earlier in his career, Dr. Hawkins was associate professor of speech communication and theater at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland.

Dr. Hawkins earned a bachelor’s degree from Towson University in Maryland. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from New York University.