University of Minnesota no longer considering applicants on basis of race, legacy status
(KSTP) – The University of Minnesota says it will no longer consider applicants based on their race or whether their family members attended or work at the University.
The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action in college admissions last month.
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It’s an update to the Twin Cities campus’ “holistic review practice” that now lists “cultural, gender, age, economic, or geographic diversity of the student body” as admissions factors. Race and “family employment or attendance” were still included in that list as recently as June 30, the day after the Supreme Court ruling, though the University of Minnesota did say it was reconsidering its policy.
In the weeks since, critics nationwide have called on academic institutions to stop legacy admissions, claiming affirmative action served as a counterbalance to a practice that mainly benefits white students who come from wealthy families.
“As part of the recent Supreme Court decision on race-conscious admissions along with our standard annual review of undergraduate admission practice, we no longer consider race and ethnicity or family attendance or employment at the University as context factors,” the University of Minnesota’s updated admissions website states.