[中文版本]
On June 29, 2024, the Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) held the 2nd National Conference on Equal Education Rights, celebrating the one year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on SFFA v. Harvard and UNC cases. Among the speakers were Patrick Strawbridge, the lawyer in the SFFA case, and Erin Wilcox, an attorney a part of the Pacific Legal Foundation.
The main job that Wilcox does with the Pacific Legal Foundation is to help litigate equal protection cases pertaining to K-12 schools. She described how the Supreme Court ruled in the SFFA v. Harvard and UNC cases help in her cases related towards K-12 schools. “[The Supreme Court cases] solidified in what instances schools can use race as a factor,” Wilcox said.
Lawyer Patrick Strawbridge, describes the prior precedent of allowing affirmative action as “a fig leaf behind which universities could do whatever they wanted in terms of racial discrimination, and claim they were in compliance with the law.” Strawbridge and other members of the legal team had to delve into the behind-the-scenes of Harvard and UNC admissions processes, in which they discovered “how badly they were disadvantaging students of Asian-American descent.”
Based on his personal beliefs on the concept of affirmative action, Strawbridge elaborates, “I think it’s a matter of fairness that we do not treat individuals as representative of their skin color or ethnic background. I think American history has shown that there is no such thing as an appropriate or minor use of race, as race is an inherently pernicious category.”
Wilcox believes that the Supreme Court ruling on the case had a significant impact in the fight for equal education rights. “It’s a really big deal because it solidified in what instances the government can use race as a factor. The decision last year said, ‘Hey wait a minute, this is too important, you don’t just get to treat people differently based on race,” Wilcox said. She also believes that not only did the decision have an impact on colleges, but it also had a big impact on schools and employment.
However, Strawbridge notes that the results and impacts of the ruling are still uncertain: “What’s going to happen in college admissions remains to be seen, as we don’t have all the statistics on how admissions processes will change.”
JRC members are grateful to have heard legal perspectives from both of these notable figures, as well as their stories and personal beliefs on the proper road towards equal education.
(Contributed by the CAPA-MC Junior Reporter Club)
