rule.
Geoff: Marcia Coyle, thank you
so much for your analysis.
We appreciate it.
Amna: The fallout of the court's
decisions will have major
implications on colleges and
universities across the country,
but one university that knows
the impact of ending raced-based
admissions all too well is the
university of Michigan.
Joining me now to talk about all
of this is university of
Michigan president, Santa Ono.
Welcome and thank you for
joining us.
Your university scrapped your
affirmative action plan years
ago because of the state and so
you have not been taking race
into account in admissions.
How is your institution impacted
today?
>> Thank you.
The decision to ban affirmative
action here happened 17 years
ago so we have not considered
race.
We have used multiple
strategies.
Holistic review, pathways
programs, and really looking for
first-generation generation
students to build a diverse
class.
A lot of times we lost a lot of
ground when affirmative action
was banned but we are making
significant progress now.
Amna: Critics will say you saw a
drop in black undergraduate
enrollment in those years but
the university pivoted to focus
on including low income students
rather than looking at race but
it hasn't worked.
Why is it failing?
>> That approach is not as
efficient an instrument to
accomplish diversity.
The critics are right, we didn't
lose quite a bit of ground but
we have learned a lot in the
interim and I want to share with
other institutions facing this
today.
Amna: Other institutions that
cannot consider race like UCLA
and Berkeley have managed to
improve black enrollments to
what are they doing that you
have not done yet?
>> We have started to increase
black and Latino and native
American enrollment recently.
We tried a different -- a number
of different approaches and they
take time to stand up.
We see progress and we would
love to share what has been
difficult along the way.
Amna: Are you speaking with
other you university and college
leaders who are concerned about
today's ruling?
>> We speak on a regular basis
with the Biden administration
and department of education.
We are talking about things that
work and things that are
challenging.
As a higher education sector we
are all committed to a diverse
student body and the benefit it
provides so we are sharing that
with the doe and working
together.
Amna: Can you give us a concrete
example of one step universities
can take?
>> There are a number of things
that work.
The pathways program where you
go into diverse communities and
work with the school systems on
students and families and
prepare them to apply to the
institution.
They are then more a successful
and the application process and
matriculate at higher numbers.
That is successful.
The other is to use a holistic
approach.
Let us look at -- look less at
standardized tests and look
instead at what the student has
accomplished.
I believe colleges and
universities should look at the
issue of legacy admission.
Several college -- college
admissions are legacy admissions
and that does not work to
diversify the student body.
Amna: You say you remain
convinced racial diversity is
one of the many important
components of a broadly diverse
student body.
There are people who will say
they are not sure that is true.
In light of today's ruling, what
have you seen in your career
that says to you this is a value
that should continue being held
up?
>> If you are a college, fortune
500 company, news agency, a
diverse team is a stronger team.
It is true for the education
system.
If you go to a class and
laboratory if you see a diverse
student body, I see the
interaction that occurs and what