New York Assembly Higher Education Committee Chair Patricia Fahy Statement on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Affirmative Action
ALBANY, NY (Jun. 29) — Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D- Albany), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, released the following statement regarding today’s U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard:
“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious admissions policies is a stain on our nation’s progress toward achieving the vision for racial justice expressed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his 1962 address “The Ethical Demands of Integration,” Dr. King noted that “desegregation alone is empty and shallow.” Instead of merely pursuing the elimination of the exclusion of racial minorities, Dr. King implored American leaders to pursue positive integration to account for the injustices of the past; or, put differently, to take corrective, affirmative action. Today’s ruling should evoke this lesson – that colorblindness in the pursuit of “non-discrimination” ignores our nation’s long struggle to achieve racial justice,” said Assemblymember Patricia Fahy.
“As Chair of the New York State Assembly’s Committee on Higher Education, I want Black, Latino, and Indigenous students to know that in New York, we stand with you. While today’s ruling will bar colleges and universities from the explicit consideration of race in admissions, they do not bar consideration of how a student’s racial background has affected their life and education. I am fully committed to ensuring no ground is lost on hard-won progress and will work with SUNY, CUNY, and private college and university leaders to examine new admissions policies that pursue positive integration, consider students’ full experience and character, and further a vision for racial justice that goes beyond mere colorblindness.”
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