Following the recent Supreme Court ruling that found race-conscious admissions protocols to be unconstitutional at universities, Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Audrey Anderson provided insight about the future of targeted recruitment and pipeline programs.
Audrey – a former vice chancellor, general counsel and university secretary for Vanderbilt University – said she does not “see these pipeline programs as being among the most pressing or sexy targets. Unless the people participating are getting a real advantage, like a plus in admissions.”
However, she suspects some universities will pull back on the programs out of fear but predicts that others won’t. “There aren’t many schools that really want to be the test case, but there are definitely some schools that will say, ‘This is important to us and we are doing the right thing, so if we are sued, we are comfortable defending that lawsuit,'” Audrey said.
The full article, “Despite Department of Ed Guidance, Universities May Be Cautious with Outreach Offerings,” was published by the ABA Journal on September 14 and is available online.