Campus leadership has formed an Initial Review and Exploratory leadership team to summarize findings and plan a University response.
On June 29, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided two cases related to the consideration of race in college admissions, Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, ruling that the use of affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional.
The SCOTUS decision will have profound implications for targeted outreach, engagement, and recruitment programming as universities attempt to build diverse learning communities, the benefits of which are well-documented.
Inclusive learning communities ensure that students are prepared for the diverse global workforce of the 21st century. The University of Maryland, Baltimore's (UMB) commitment, as Maryland’s premier public health, law, and human services university, “to improve the human condition and serve the public good of Maryland and society at-large” requires a diverse student population in multiple dimensions, including race.
To maintain UMB’s competitive edge and to demonstrate our commitment to our core values of Equity and Justice, campus leadership has formed an Initial Review and Exploratory leadership team (provost, vice president/chief equity, diversity, and inclusion officer-VP/CEDIO, law school dean, and general counsel) with biweekly meetings planned. This group has reviewed and summarized the findings and are rolling out a robust communication and engagement plan in response to the court’s decision both internally and externally. All deans have responded to an initial audit, to inventory all school admissions policies, procedures, and practices associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The SCOTUS decision may also possibly impact financial aid, scholarship awards, honors, as well as other areas related to UMB’s core values of Equity and Justice.
To support this planning, the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (OEDI) in collaboration with campus leadership and the University community will continue to host programs to educate and engage the University. OEDI will create a FAQs page and a series of programs will be planned to engage the campus community around these important topics.
For questions, please contact provost@umaryland.edu.