Reaffirming our Core Values
To all members of the Northeastern community,
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court released decisions on two cases that will dramatically alter the use of race as a factor in college admissions. While our legal and enrollment experts review the many pages that make up these landmark decisions, I would like to reaffirm some of our university’s core values—principles that will endure and guide us irrespective of the court’s rulings.
Let me be clear: People from every possible background, orientation and ideology are welcome members of the Northeastern community. We embrace diversity, in all its forms, because it makes Northeastern stronger as an institution of teaching and learning. We will remain steadfast in our commitment to building a globally diverse community—and we will continue working to foster a genuine sense of belonging on all of our campuses. These values are embodied by all members of the Northeastern community. They are brought to life across our global university system, which spans different nations and legal jurisdictions.
It is important to remember that Northeastern students—especially our undergraduates—learn from every dimension of college life. They learn from our world-class faculty, and through life-changing experiential opportunities. And, importantly, students learn powerful lessons from one another. In countless academic, extracurricular, and social settings, our students benefit from the rich tapestries and contours of our global community. This is an essential—not an optional—element of our mission to prepare them for the complex and varied world they will lead after graduation.
As always, our core values will be our guiding star as we navigate this new landscape. Our charge as a university will be to ensure—within the bounds of the law—a richly diverse and powerful learning environment for all.
This is an obligation we owe to our students—and to society as a whole.
Sincerely,
Joseph E. Aoun
President
A MESSAGE TO THE UCONN COMMUNITY
Piet,
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that will challenge the ability of UConn, and higher education broadly, to meet America’s ongoing commitment to building a more just and equitable society.
The cases, which were heard by the court in October, concerned challenges to decades-old legal precedent that established the right of universities to take a holistic approach to setting admissions policies intended to build a diverse, welcoming student body.
The university and its president do not typically comment on cases before the court or its decisions unless those decisions have a direct impact on UConn. While we still need to thoroughly review the lengthy decision to fully understand its implications, this one unquestionably does impact us – and we are deeply dismayed and disappointed by it.We know that the best way to build a vibrant and diverse student body is to use the tested, reliable methodology of the holistic admissions process. In states where race-conscious admissions processes have been banned, such as Michigan and California, universities have struggled to maintain diverse student bodies, with the number of historically underrepresented applicants dropping precipitously since such bans were adopted.It is essential to UConn’s mission as a public university that we create and maintain a student body in which people of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds can thrive. Our great challenge now in the wake of these decisions is continuing to build on that vital mission with the tools we still have available to us.This is an issue that cannot be fully understood without the context in which it exists: the roles that race and racial injustice have played in the long history of the United States from its earliest days to the present.American colleges and universities, including ours, have an essential moral obligation to do all we can not only to promote and enhance diversity for its own sake within our student body, but to play a pivotal role in helping to reverse through our actions, policies, and practices what President Lyndon B. Johnson famously referred to as “the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice” that existed and still exists in American society. That was one of multiple goals of our longstanding admissions process.This is not only a question of principle. Evidence abounds of the practical, concrete benefits to American society of enabling students to learn in a diverse community where they benefit from a wide variety of experiences, ideas, and perspectives.Connecticut, like UConn, is home to a diverse population statewide – racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically – and we take great pride in providing access and financial aid to students of every background and walk of life. The students learning in our classrooms and experimenting in our laboratories today will soon be our doctors and nurses, our lawyers and accountants, our children’s teachers, the elected officials in our communities, and the innovators and creative thinkers whose ideas and energy will bring positive change and growth to our society for decades to come.Through the efforts of UConn’s Division of Enrollment Planning and Management, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, and our individual schools and colleges, we have made significant progress in this important endeavor.The Class of 2026, for instance, is the most diverse in the history of our institution. Forty-seven percent are students of color, and nearly 27% are from backgrounds historically underrepresented in higher education. This is not by accident, and it is not an anomaly: Prior to this year’s first-year students, the classes of 2024, 2023, and 2022 were successively the most diverse in university history.Our ability to recruit and retain a diverse student population is drawn from a dynamic learning environment that prizes inclusion and equity across academic, social, and cultural spheres.Our strategy to maintain and enhance diversity among our student body includes:
The continued development and operationalization of pipeline/early college awareness outreach for prospective students through UConn Summer LEAD, the campus visit program, outreach to community-based organizations and urban school districts, and partnering with existing campus programs in schools, colleges, centers, and institutes.
New and strengthened relationships with influencers who help shape the college selection process, including campaigns and programming aimed at parents, teachers, school administrators, advisors, alumni, and community-based programs such as our Promise Programs.
Generating additional opportunities to increase application submissions by multicultural students, identifying potential students early, utilizing current students, Application Day programs, engagement with high schools, FAFSA completion workshops and through direct communications.
Developing and enhancing post-admit activities and outreach such as yield visits, programs targeting high schools, outreach to admitted students from campus partners, and communications campaigns.
UConn also has abundant existing assets to help ensure that students of every background can thrive. They include:
Areas of study at UConn include Africana Studies, Human Rights, Judaic Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, Urban and Community Studies, Asian and Asian American Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Our seven cultural centers and programs offer a rich experience of education, leadership opportunities, and the chance to forge lifelong bonds among peers.
Learning communities like ScHOLA²RS House, La Comunidad Intelectual, WiMSE House, and the newly launching BSOUL House create meaningful relationships with faculty mentors and peers, and provide a welcoming environment for deeper learning and student success.
New initiatives across the university, such as the Office of Health Equity and Access to Care within Student Health and Wellness; the Vergnano Institute for Inclusion within the School of Engineering; the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Research Initiative within the Office of the Vice President for Research; the Constance Belton Green Diversity fund within the School of Law; and the creation of a Chief Diversity Officer position at UConn Health all demonstrate the breadth and depth of our commitment to inclusion and equity for our students, faculty, and staff.
ODI, in collaboration with UConn Hartford and UConn Health, has launched the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Initiative, which bridges efforts across all three campuses to improve health outcomes by dismantling racism as a barrier to healthy, meaningful, and full participation at UConn and across the state.
Our music ensembles include the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir, one of the oldest university gospel choirs in the nation. The Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, William Benton Museum of Art, Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, Contemporary Art Galleries, and von Schlippe Gallery (Avery Point) offer a rich array of exhibitions and performances that explore the arts of many cultures and ethnicities.
We will continue to grow and adapt to effectively build on these commitments, today’s decision notwithstanding. As much as anything, only time will allow us to understand the full impact today’s decision will have on UConn and the most effective strategies to mitigate it. But as I told the community when the cases were heard in October, no matter what, our commitment to vital, unifying, and transformative diversity will remain one of our core values at UConn, and our actions – in admissions, in academics, in culture – will match our values. We have come too far as a university and as a country – and have further to go still – to abandon the progress which has been so painstakingly made.Sincerely,
Radenka Maric
UConn President
WESLEYAN
Dear Piet,
As you're likely aware, the Supreme Court has recently released a decision that limits the ability of institutions like Wesleyan to consider race as a factor in its admissions process. We’ve been following this issue closely and are disappointed with the court’s ruling.
President Michael S. Roth ’78 and I sent a message to the campus community on this topic. We are sharing the message with you to keep you apprised of Wesleyan’s position on this matter.
We encourage you to listen to a conversastion that we recorded for Wesleyan University Magazine before knowing the court’s decision in which we discuss important elements of Wesleyan’s values and its approach to a holistic application process.
Sincerely,
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez ’96
Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
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FW: On the Supreme Court Ruling
Dear friends,
Today’s Supreme Court decision on the consideration of race in college admissions is extremely disappointing. Appealing to a principle of “color-blindness” at odds with history and law, the Court’s conservative majority says “trust us” while it imposes its will on higher education’s admission policies.
Wesleyan remains deeply committed to admitting a class of students that will lead to a diverse learning community on our campus. By using a reductive sense of how race is dealt with in college admissions, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court has challenged the University’s ability to select and enroll a racially diverse class.
The University is encouraged, however, that the Court has recognized the importance of considering race as a factor impacting the lived experience of an applicant. As the Court ruled, “all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”
Wesleyan has never simply looked at the box students checked when considering their racial background. We take an individualized, holistic view of an applicant’s lived experience, through their essays, letters of recommendation, and interactions with our community. Our decision to admit a student is based on diverse facets of the individual’s history, talent, and potential. Applicants’ achievements and promises are carefully considered in the context of their respective schools, communities, and personal circumstances.
The liberal arts education we offer is stronger because our campus community is built on a dynamic array of socioeconomic, religious, intellectual, geographic, and racial diversity. Asking people to consider ideas and experiences that might challenge their own preconceptions is a crucial step towards helping individuals become engaged citizens leading lives of purpose.
We are studying the decision to better understand how we can comply with the law while pursuing our mission. We are determined to create a diverse community, and our admission and financial aid teams have been preparing over the last several months to craft policies that will do that. While our ability to do this work has been undermined by today’s ruling, our values are unwavering. We will follow up later this summer with updates and news of Wesleyan’s specific plans for moving forward in the wake of this decision.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Roth, President
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
BRYANT
Dear Piet,
Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States made an anticipated ruling against race-conscious admission programs, a long-standing pillar in higher education. These policies played a significant role in promoting broader access both on campuses and in society.
Bryant University has a long-standing commitment to serve and provide access and opportunity in education and toward career success to all students. An important part of a Bryant education is engaging and learning with students from different backgrounds and with different lived experiences.
Bryant’s close-knit community benefits from a focus on strong and diverse access to educational and economic opportunity. As a nationally recognized economic mobility champion, our institutional commitment to this will continue. Over the coming weeks, we will assess the full impact of the Supreme Court decision. Moving forward, we will use the tools and practices available under the law to ensure each applicant’s and student’s unique strengths and experiences are valued and respected.
I know that this decision greatly impacts your work, as well, and I look forward to our continued partnership and commitment to creating a diverse academic community at Bryant University.
Warmly,
Michelle L. Cloutier
Vice President for Enrollment Management
TCU
Dear Piet,
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) in their cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, effectively ending affirmative action in college admissions. In the wake of that decision, Texas Christian University President Daniel Pullin shared with campus members our “commitment to building a community with a diversity of viewpoints and life experiences” because it is precisely these environments that foster innovation, intellectual development, and personal growth.
Our admission process has been and will remain holistic. Indeed, we want to know students in as many of their 360 degrees as they are willing to share with us. While the Court’s decision precludes racial identity as a factor, the extent to which identity has shaped applicants’ lived experiences, “be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” is explicitly allowed. Our holistic philosophy encourages applicants to share beyond what a transcript and resume measure, and allows us to create an exceptional class of Horned Frogs who lead on for the greater good.
For more than 20 years I have worked in the field of college admissions. During that time, I’ve met thousands of students, many face-to-face and still more through the words they pen to paper. I continue to marvel at the range of experiences that shape students and the vulnerability they demonstrate in sharing those experiences with us. No two students are the same and there is more to young people than a set of data points. It is what makes our job both exceedingly challenging and relentlessly interesting.
TCU has been preparing for this moment for the better part of two years. Over that time, we have identified ways in which this outcome might create gaps in access to TCU and developed remedies that consider the potential impact. We will continue to collaborate with campus leaders to assess and refine admission practices that best serve students and our institutional priorities.
For 150 years, TCU has been defined by a connection culture and our efforts to enroll a student body reflective of society’s rich tapestry endure. This fall, our community will welcome the most diverse class in university history. In so doing, we will deliver on our promise to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.
Warmly,
Heath Einstein
Dean of Admission