Supreme Court decisions have direct impact on the lives of all people within the United States. Of note, the Supreme Court recently ruled that Affirmative Action based on race was illegal. The American Psychological Association (APA) recently addressed the impact of this ruling. The Delaware Psychological Association (DPA) supports APA’s position (see below) that programs like affirmative action are important and necessary in supporting equity within education systems and subsequently improve the educational environment for all students. In accordance with APA, we acknowledge the potentially damaging effects that eliminating race as a consideration in admissions will likely have on creating culturally diverse and representative student bodies across the country at educational institutions, and the far-reaching detrimental impact of this both immediately and in the future.

Regarding the ruling, the APA released this statement:

“The American Psychological Association deeply regrets that the court discounted the substantial body of research demonstrating that exposure to diversity can reduce bias and improve educational outcomes for all students. Scientific research has also found that exposure to diversity enhances critical thinking and promotes deeper information processing and problem-solving skills, among other benefits. Without purposeful attention to achieving diverse student bodies, our institutions of higher learning are likely to grow even more racially and ethnically polarized. Eliminating their ability to consider race or ethnicity as a factor in admissions is bound to decrease diversity on our campuses, resulting in poorer educational outcomes for all students.”