NC Gov. Cooper files brief supporting UNC admissions policies in US Supreme Court case

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and three of his predecessors have submitted an amicus brief supporting UNC-Chapel Hill in its affirmative action admissions case being heard by the United States Supreme Court.

The case, which stems from a 2014 lawsuit against UNC, challenges how colleges and universities should consider race in the admissions process, if at all.

The anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions alleges UNC discriminated against white and Asian American applicants by using race when evaluating undergraduate student applications. The group, which is made up of thousands of rejected applicants, prospective students and parents, filed a similar lawsuit against Harvard that will also be heard by the court.

Students for Fair Admissions wants race taken out of the admissions process, arguing that any consideration of race in education is unconstitutional.

So far, UNC has successfully defended its position that race is an important piece of the school’s holistic admissions process but it is not a dominant factor. UNC has also shown how considering a prospective student’s race helps improve diversity on campus and enhances the academic experience.

With the fate of race-conscious admissions at public and private institutions in its hands, the conservative court’s ruling could alter affirmative action in higher education and the diversity of college campuses across the country.

“Our public universities are the training grounds for our state workforce and the next generation of state leaders and government works better when it looks like the people it represents,” Gov. Cooper said in a statement. “It is critical for states across the South, including North Carolina, to continue to close the education gap.”

Former governors join effort

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, former North Carolina Governors Mike Easley, Bev Perdue, Jim Hunt and other former governors in the South — including Jim Hodges, Richard Riley, Ray Mabus, Roy Barnes and Terry McAuliffe — also signed onto the brief.

In the brief, these state government leaders explain how “diversity in education fosters diversity in government,” and U.S. democracy “demands leaders who reflect the diversity of the people they govern.” Yet, historically, “the path to leadership for racial minorities has been strewn with obstacles,” which have detrimental effects on individual residents and the government itself, the brief says.

Colleges and universities have used race-conscious admissions programs to help clear those obstacles for residents of diverse backgrounds to pursue leadership opportunities, they argue.

‘The education state’

“North Carolina’s reputation as “the education state” requires nothing less than a system of public education — including higher education — that values, supports, and mirrors the great diversity of the State and provides equal opportunity to all to pursue their dreams,” the brief says.

Though these cases focus on admissions at UNC and Harvard, a ruling that eliminates the use of race in college admissions would diverge from decades of precedent and “seriously disrupt Southern States’ ongoing efforts to reduce educational inequality,” according to the brief.

The Supreme Court announced last month that it will consider the two cases separately, allowing Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Harvard alumna, to participate in the UNC case.

The cases are expected to be argued in the fall, according to the website SCOTUSblog.