Inside Higher Ed Covers Analysis from Sonja Starr on Changes to College Essay Prompts
Re-Evaluating the ‘Essay Carveout’
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in two lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last summer, the justices seemed to leave room for colleges to consider race through applicants’ essay responses.
“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,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA).
Sonja Starr, a law professor at the University of Chicago, has been analyzing changes to college essay prompts since the fall. She told Inside Higher Ed that the “essay carveout,” as it’s often called, is a “meaningful path forward” for colleges trying to maintain their racial diversity. Her report on “Admissions Essays After SFFA,” published last month in the Indiana Law Journal, suggests that many selective colleges are taking the approach seriously, too.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed