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Do you agree with the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions? 

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions, finding that race cannot be a factor.

The ruling, based on cases against the admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that relied in part on racial considerations, forces institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. The court’s ruling finds affirmative action in college admissions violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.

Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.”

Several Maine colleges, including Colby College in Waterville, were signatories on a brief filed in support of Harvard and UNC’s efforts to maintain race as a factor in admissions.

But what do you think? Was the Supreme Court right to strike down affirmative action in college admissions? Tell us in the poll and comments below.

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