President Trump To Roll Back Obama Era Affirmative Action Guidelines

On Tuesday, the Trump administration signaled they would rescind the Obama administration’s guidelines for affirmative action. Whereas the Justice and Education departments previously allowed universities to consider race in their admissions decisions, this move indicates a shift to “race blind” policies. Schools who do not comply, public or private, could be at risk of losing federal funding for student loans. The decision is likely to have little impact at California’s public universities, which have banned affirmative action since 1996. We discuss what the move means for diversity in higher education.