IHL will review Miss. admissions

 The Institutions of Higher Learning, the governing board of Mississippi’s eight public universities, will review its admission policies in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the consideration of race as a factor in college admissions. 

Going forward, colleges and universities will only be able to consider race in the context of how it’s affected a potential student’s life, the court ruled. The decision, which concerned admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, is expected to make elite institutions less diverse. 

It remains to be seen how the ruling will affect public universities in Mississippi, which have recently come under a microscope by the State Auditor’s Office for spending on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

Alfred Rankins, the commissioner of IHL, said that the board will work with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office to determine if its admission policies, which are relatively open, are in compliance. 

The ruling, delivered by the Court on ideological lines, was decried by Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who noted that race-conscious admissions policies were an important way for universities to ensure historically marginalized students had “access the same educational opportunities available to their more privileged peers.” 

It was celebrated by conservatives. 

It’s not clear any institution of higher education in Mississippi considers race as a factor in admissions. In Mississippi, affirmative action was struck down in 1996 by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Hopwood v. Texas. 

None of the state’s top three public universities considers race as a factor in admissions. Mississippi’s public universities have open enrollment. Prospective undergraduate students are admitted if they meet a range of criteria. 

These across-the-board standards are rooted in changes IHL had to make in the aftermath of a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court case called Ayers v. Fordice. (Mississippi Today 06/30/23) Mississippi universities to review admissions policies  - Mississippi Today