Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is welcoming the end of affirmative action for race-conscious admissions to colleges and universities after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that institutions must use “race-neutral” criteria when admitting students.
“We will enthusiastically work to ensure that our universities across the state comply with both the letter and spirit of this decision,” the governor said in a statement Thursday. “Our academic institutions will be stronger and more fair because of it.”
Across the nation, colleges and universities have long considered race and other characteristics a factor in their admissions to foster more diverse communities and to correct for historical patterns of structural discrimination. But in the court’s ruling yesterday, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a white conservative, said that doing so violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection and that universities should focus more on individual characteristics.
“They have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
In his statement, Reeves claimed that all Mississippians can can “have the chance at a better life” through “better educational opportunities, workforce and skills training, and job creation.”
“’Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything—good or bad—that happens in their lives,” the governor said.
Reeves, who governs a 38%-Black state with some of the most brutal history of white supremacy and some of the worst racial disparities in the nation, has long denied the role of racism in society. In 2021, he told a Fox News audience that “there is not systemic racism in America.”
‘With Let-Them-Eat-Cake Obliviousness’
In a statement after yesterday’s ruling, Mississippi Center For Justice CEO Vangela M. Wade decried the decision as “a grave injustice not only to millions of students of color but to students everywhere who benefit from being in classrooms that look