Latest news with #admissionspolicy
CNN
12-08-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Anti-affirmative action group drops lawsuits against West Point and Air Force Academy after policy changes
Months after President Donald Trump ordered the nation's military academies to scrap policies that allowed admissions officials to consider race, an anti-affirmative action group this week dropped a pair of lawsuits against West Point and the Air Force Academy. Students for Fair Admissions threw out the two lawsuits after reaching an agreement with the administration that said the new admissions policy changes will be 'permanent' and that the elite military academies must notify it of any changes to the schools' policies so that the group can mount new legal challenges. Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed the resolution to the two lawsuits, saying in a statement Tuesday that her department 'is committed to eliminating DEI practices throughout the federal government.' The decision by SFFA to drop the cases follows a similar move that it made in a case it brought against the Naval Academy over that school's admissions policies. 'Together with the Naval Academy case earlier this year, this agreement ensures that America's critically important military service academies will admit future officers based solely on merit, not skin color or ancestry,' SFFA president Edward Blum said in a statement. The Air Force case was brought in a federal court in Colorado in December and had not yet yielded any major rulings by the time Trump returned to the White House. The West Point lawsuit was filed in September 2023. In that case, a federal judge in New York ruled against SFFA, which then sought an emergency order from the Supreme Court barring the academy from considering race. The Supreme Court declined to take the group up on that request at the time, saying the case was 'underdeveloped.' The trio of lawsuits from SFFA were the group's latest front in its long-running legal battle against affirmative action policies at the nation's colleges and universities. In a landmark 2023 decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court invalidated admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that considered race as one of many factors in deciding which students to admit. That longstanding practice, the court ruled, violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. But the court explicitly declined to apply that same rationale to the military academies. The Biden administration had argued at the time that the federal government had a compelling interest in developing a diverse officer corps. In a footnote, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that no military academy was a party to the litigation that reached the high court. 'This opinion also does not address the issue,' Roberts wrote, 'in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.' That inspired SFFA, the same group that had sued Harvard and UNC, to launch separate litigation against each of the military academies, including the Air Force Academy in Colorado and West Point in New York. But Trump effectively headed off that litigation earlier this year by ordering that 'every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.' The change reversed a decades-long effort, during Republican and Democratic administrations, to make the officer corps better reflect the enlisted soldiers they lead and the country they represent. As part of the Trump administration's broader war on efforts to increase diversity, the president signed an executive order on January 27 barring the armed services from relying on 'any preference based on race or sex.' In early February, acting on that order, the Air Force eliminated the use of 'quotas, objectives, and goals based on sex, race or ethnicity,' including for admissions. As the Biden administration sought to defend the need for the military schools' policies before the high court in 2022, then-Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that 'our armed forces know from hard experience that when we do not have a diverse officer corps that is broadly reflective of a diverse fighting force, our strength and cohesion and military readiness suffer.' 'So it is a critical national security imperative to attain diversity within the officer corps,' she said at the time.
CNN
12-08-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Anti-affirmative action group drops lawsuits against West Point and Air Force Academy after policy changes
Months after President Donald Trump ordered the nation's military academies to scrap policies that allowed admissions officials to consider race, an anti-affirmative action group this week dropped a pair of lawsuits against West Point and the Air Force Academy. Students for Fair Admissions threw out the two lawsuits after reaching an agreement with the administration that said the new admissions policy changes will be 'permanent' and that the elite military academies must notify it of any changes to the schools' policies so that the group can mount new legal challenges. Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed the resolution to the two lawsuits, saying in a statement Tuesday that her department 'is committed to eliminating DEI practices throughout the federal government.' The decision by SFFA to drop the cases follows a similar move that it made in a case it brought against the Naval Academy over that school's admissions policies. 'Together with the Naval Academy case earlier this year, this agreement ensures that America's critically important military service academies will admit future officers based solely on merit, not skin color or ancestry,' SFFA president Edward Blum said in a statement. The Air Force case was brought in a federal court in Colorado in December and had not yet yielded any major rulings by the time Trump returned to the White House. The West Point lawsuit was filed in September 2023. In that case, a federal judge in New York ruled against SFFA, which then sought an emergency order from the Supreme Court barring the academy from considering race. The Supreme Court declined to take the group up on that request at the time, saying the case was 'underdeveloped.' The trio of lawsuits from SFFA were the group's latest front in its long-running legal battle against affirmative action policies at the nation's colleges and universities. In a landmark 2023 decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court invalidated admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that considered race as one of many factors in deciding which students to admit. That longstanding practice, the court ruled, violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. But the court explicitly declined to apply that same rationale to the military academies. The Biden administration had argued at the time that the federal government had a compelling interest in developing a diverse officer corps. In a footnote, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that no military academy was a party to the litigation that reached the high court. 'This opinion also does not address the issue,' Roberts wrote, 'in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.' That inspired SFFA, the same group that had sued Harvard and UNC, to launch separate litigation against each of the military academies, including the Air Force Academy in Colorado and West Point in New York. But Trump effectively headed off that litigation earlier this year by ordering that 'every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.' The change reversed a decades-long effort, during Republican and Democratic administrations, to make the officer corps better reflect the enlisted soldiers they lead and the country they represent. As part of the Trump administration's broader war on efforts to increase diversity, the president signed an executive order on January 27 barring the armed services from relying on 'any preference based on race or sex.' In early February, acting on that order, the Air Force eliminated the use of 'quotas, objectives, and goals based on sex, race or ethnicity,' including for admissions. As the Biden administration sought to defend the need for the military schools' policies before the high court in 2022, then-Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that 'our armed forces know from hard experience that when we do not have a diverse officer corps that is broadly reflective of a diverse fighting force, our strength and cohesion and military readiness suffer.' 'So it is a critical national security imperative to attain diversity within the officer corps,' she said at the time.
CNN
12-08-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Anti-affirmative action group drops lawsuits against West Point and Air Force Academy after policy changes
Months after President Donald Trump ordered the nation's military academies to scrap policies that allowed admissions officials to consider race, an anti-affirmative action group this week dropped a pair of lawsuits against West Point and the Air Force Academy. Students for Fair Admissions threw out the two lawsuits after reaching an agreement with the administration that said the new admissions policy changes will be 'permanent' and that the elite military academies must notify it of any changes to the schools' policies so that the group can mount new legal challenges. Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed the resolution to the two lawsuits, saying in a statement Tuesday that her department 'is committed to eliminating DEI practices throughout the federal government.' The decision by SFFA to drop the cases follows a similar move that it made in a case it brought against the Naval Academy over that school's admissions policies. 'Together with the Naval Academy case earlier this year, this agreement ensures that America's critically important military service academies will admit future officers based solely on merit, not skin color or ancestry,' SFFA president Edward Blum said in a statement. The Air Force case was brought in a federal court in Colorado in December and had not yet yielded any major rulings by the time Trump returned to the White House. The West Point lawsuit was filed in September 2023. In that case, a federal judge in New York ruled against SFFA, which then sought an emergency order from the Supreme Court barring the academy from considering race. The Supreme Court declined to take the group up on that request at the time, saying the case was 'underdeveloped.' The trio of lawsuits from SFFA were the group's latest front in its long-running legal battle against affirmative action policies at the nation's colleges and universities. In a landmark 2023 decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court invalidated admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that considered race as one of many factors in deciding which students to admit. That longstanding practice, the court ruled, violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. But the court explicitly declined to apply that same rationale to the military academies. The Biden administration had argued at the time that the federal government had a compelling interest in developing a diverse officer corps. In a footnote, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that no military academy was a party to the litigation that reached the high court. 'This opinion also does not address the issue,' Roberts wrote, 'in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.' That inspired SFFA, the same group that had sued Harvard and UNC, to launch separate litigation against each of the military academies, including the Air Force Academy in Colorado and West Point in New York. But Trump effectively headed off that litigation earlier this year by ordering that 'every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.' The change reversed a decades-long effort, during Republican and Democratic administrations, to make the officer corps better reflect the enlisted soldiers they lead and the country they represent. As part of the Trump administration's broader war on efforts to increase diversity, the president signed an executive order on January 27 barring the armed services from relying on 'any preference based on race or sex.' In early February, acting on that order, the Air Force eliminated the use of 'quotas, objectives, and goals based on sex, race or ethnicity,' including for admissions. As the Biden administration sought to defend the need for the military schools' policies before the high court in 2022, then-Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that 'our armed forces know from hard experience that when we do not have a diverse officer corps that is broadly reflective of a diverse fighting force, our strength and cohesion and military readiness suffer.' 'So it is a critical national security imperative to attain diversity within the officer corps,' she said at the time.
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Education Department opens investigation of admissions at selective Virginia high school
WASHINGTON — The Education Department said Thursday it is opening a civil rights investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia over the admissions policy at an elite, selective high school. A change in the admissions policy introduced five years ago at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology led to the enrollment of more Black and Hispanic students and faced a court challenge from some parents. The plaintiffs argued it came at the expense of Asian American students, whose numbers at the school dropped. The investigation comes one day after the office of Virginia's attorney general, Republican Jason Miyares, closed its own investigation, which found the school's policy discriminated against Asian American students. His office referred the case to federal authorities. 'The Department of Education is grateful for the diligent work of Governor (Glenn) Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares for documenting a pattern of concerning practices at TJ, and we will further investigate this complaint to ensure that all students being assessed fairly, according to merit and accomplishment,' Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to hear the case challenging Thomas Jefferson's admissions policy, leaving in place an appeals court ruling that let the policy stand. The school district said it would review the documents released by the state attorney general. 'This matter has already been fully litigated,' Fairfax County Public Schools said in a statement. 'A federal appellate court determined there was no merit to arguments that the admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology discriminates against any group of students.' In 2020, the school district revised the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson by removing a $100 application fee and admissions test and adopting a 'holistic review' process. The first class admitted under the new policy saw an increase in low-income students, English language learners and girls. About 54% of the admitted class were Asian American — a decline from prior year percentages that ranged from 65% to 75%. The percentage of Black and Hispanic students, who have been underrepresented at the school, also increased. Students' grades, a problem-solving essay, a 'portrait sheet' of their skills, and four experience factors — special education status, eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, whether they were an English language learner and whether they attended a historically underrepresented public middle school — were part of the review. Admissions evaluators did not have access to students' name, race or other demographic information. A district court initially ruled in favor of the parents' group that challenged the policy, but an appeals court later overturned that ruling. The appeals court noted that while the percentage of Asian American students had declined under the new policy compared to earlier classes, Asian American students outperformed their share of the applicant pool. The case had been considered a possible next step to challenging admissions practices, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action and explicit consideration of race in its 2023 ruling against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. But in 2024, the Supreme Court declined to take up the case. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Associated Press
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Education Department opens investigation of admissions at selective Virginia high school
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department said Thursday it is opening a civil rights investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia over the admissions policy at an elite, selective high school. A change in the admissions policy introduced five years ago at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology led to the enrollment of more Black and Hispanic students and faced a court challenge from some parents. The plaintiffs argued it came at the expense of Asian American students, whose numbers at the school dropped. The investigation comes one day after the office of Virginia's attorney general, Republican Jason Miyares, closed its own investigation, which found the school's policy discriminated against Asian American students. His office referred the case to federal authorities. 'The Department of Education is grateful for the diligent work of Governor (Glenn) Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares for documenting a pattern of concerning practices at TJ, and we will further investigate this complaint to ensure that all students being assessed fairly, according to merit and accomplishment,' Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to hear the case challenging Thomas Jefferson's admissions policy, leaving in place an appeals court ruling that let the policy stand. The school district said it would review the documents released by the state attorney general. 'This matter has already been fully litigated,' Fairfax County Public Schools said in a statement. 'A federal appellate court determined there was no merit to arguments that the admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology discriminates against any group of students.' In 2020, the school district revised the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson by removing a $100 application fee and admissions test and adopting a 'holistic review' process. The first class admitted under the new policy saw an increase in low-income students, English language learners and girls. About 54% of the admitted class were Asian American — a decline from prior year percentages that ranged from 65% to 75%. The percentage of Black and Hispanic students, who have been underrepresented at the school, also increased. Students' grades, a problem-solving essay, a 'portrait sheet' of their skills, and four experience factors — special education status, eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, whether they were an English language learner and whether they attended a historically underrepresented public middle school — were part of the review. Admissions evaluators did not have access to students' name, race or other demographic information. A district court initially ruled in favor of the parents' group that challenged the policy, but an appeals court later overturned that ruling. The appeals court noted that while the percentage of Asian American students had declined under the new policy compared to earlier classes, Asian American students outperformed their share of the applicant pool. The case had been considered a possible next step to challenging admissions practices, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action and explicit consideration of race in its 2023 ruling against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. But in 2024, the Supreme Court declined to take up the case. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
