John King Jr., who served as education secretary under former President Barack Obama, says the Trump administration’s crackdown on use of race in college admissions is “going backwards on civil rights issues.”
“It’s dangerous because the truth is African-American and Latino students are significantly underrepresented: underrepresented on Ivy League campuses, underrepresented in research universities, underrepresented in flagship state public higher-ed institutions, dramatically underrepresented in many cases,” King told David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.
Last week the Justice Department rescinded a list of guidances, issued during the Obama administration, which allowed for administrators to consider race when making admissions decisions.
King also noted during the podcast that the Justice Department’s action affects K-12 schools as well, as it “sends a signal to school districts that the administration is opposed to them thinking about how to create more diverse schools within school districts.”
After a 2016 Supreme Court decision, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, which upheld the school’s decision to consider race as a part of its admissions decisions, King expressed his support, saying “research has shown that more diverse organizations make better decisions with better results.” King is currently president and CEO of of Education Trust, a national, nonprofit organization based in D.C. that advocates for racial and economic diversity in preschool through university education.
