(WASHINGTON, DC – 6/30/2023) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on colleges and universities to establish new methods to consider the personal life experiences of student applicants in the admissions process, including racial, economic, and other injustices that applicants have faced and overcome while achieving academic success.
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision barring public universities and private universities that receive federal finding from considering race as an admissions factor in the admissions process.
In response to the ruling, CAIR also joined calls for universities to curtail the use of legacy admissions, which give an advantage to certain students based solely on the identity of their parents, and for military colleges and universities to not receive any unfair special exemptions from the Court’s ruling.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Long before and long after the founding of the United States, Black men, women and children were subjected to unprecedented, systematic, and racist injustices that continue to create socioeconomic obstacles and other challenges for many members of the African-American community today. Our nation has spent recent decades trying to address these injustices and level the playing field, including in our educational system.
“Schools impacted by this week’s Supreme Court ruling should continue those efforts by establishing new ways to take into account each student’s unique life experiences, including economic, racial, historic and social injustices they have had to overcome while achieving academic success. Considering such factors is still constitutional and still critical for institutions of higher education.”
“Doing so can not only ensure a fairer admissions process, but a campus enriched by students with a wide variety of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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For more information, email: [email protected], CC [email protected]
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]