Thursday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of University of Texas at Austin’s affirmative action plan.
Staff in the admissions office at the University of Montana say that at least in the immediate future, not much will change.
“I think the new Supreme Court ruling about race-conscious admissions isn’t really going to come to play anytime soon with admissions at the University of Montana," says Karissa Drye, associate director for new student programs at UM.
The Supreme Court’s ruling upheld a University of Texas program that takes account of race in deciding whom to admit.
Drye says there might be long-term increases in non-white students pursuing college degrees. But, she adds that a prospective student’s race has no part in the admissions process.
“We do really operate on a race-blind admissions process, mostly because our admissions standards are so accessible," she says.
Discrimination on the basis of race or color is prohibited under both federal and Montana law. According to the University of Montana’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, this means there is no discrimination against an individual seeking admission as a student.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling was widely considered a win for proponents of affirmative action.