NAACP Disturbed by U.S. Supreme Court Granting Arguments in SFA v. Harvard

NAACP Director of Education Innovation & Research, Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, Released the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court Granting Arguments in Racist Challenge to Harvard University's Admission Policies: 

"The federal lawsuit brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFA) against Harvard University is a racist attempt to target and disenfranchise highly qualified Black and Hispanic students. Aside from high school GPA and test scores, race is one of many wholistic factors that Harvard considers when granting admission. In addition, non-merit admissions factors include recruited athletes, children of major donors, and legacies. By targeting race, and ignoring other factors that disadvantage Black and Hispanic applicants, the SFA affirms that they do not care about justice. Their only apparent goal is to make Harvard less Black and Brown.

According to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Black and Hispanic students at Harvard have graduation rates (96 percent) that are statistically equivalent to the graduation rates for Asian and White students. Therefore, eliminating race-conscious admissions policies will hurt diversity, without improving admissions standards. The NAACP agrees with Harvard University and President Biden who urged the Supreme Court not to hear this case. The case is meritless, harmful, and only seeks to relitigate longstanding admission policies that have already been established through legal precedent and recently upheld by lower courts."