Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | July 24, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 11 H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N F O C U S education are expecting to see [student body diversity] drop off." e situation has played out on a smaller scale in California and Michi- gan, as both states banned affirmative action in the 1990s and 2000s, respec- tively, said Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, a Washington, D.C.-based group. "What we saw is there is no substi- tute for race-based admissions," said Granberry Russell. Outreach pro- grams that target diverse applicants make a dent but cannot make up for affirmative action, she said. "Certainly at elite institutions, this decision will have an impact," she said. "We will see a reduced participation, in some cases significant, of students of color." e consequences in higher educa- tion may prove to be the canary in a coal mine for both attitudes about diversity and the ability to main- tain and promote diversity into the business world. e change po- tentially impacts the pool of indi- viduals entering the workforce, Granberry Russell said. "is will be a setback from a recruit- ment standpoint because of the pipeline of individuals coming into the corpo- rations," said Juliette Mayers, founder and CEO of Inspiration Zone, a woman- and minority-owned consulting firm in Boston specializing in diversity and inclusion strategy and branding. Businesses hiring primar- ily new college graduates may experience the impact of change in the workforce pipeline first, as that talent pool will be affected first by decisions in higher ed, said Su Joun, principal of Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group, a Cambridge-based corporate trainer and consultant. "DEI work is hard," said Joun. "ose organizations who have been hesitant or timid about DEI may use this as a reason to be more timid and stop some programs." Keeping DEI going Businesses' com- mitment to DEI needs to extend beyond just hiring, Zolezzi-Wynd- ham said. Corporations should help colleges foster a diverse applicant pool by supporting and partnering with schools at the high school and elementary level. "ere needs to be a focus on the rigor of ed- ucation being afforded to students of color so they have the chance to show their excellence," said Zolezzi-Wyndham. at's the pre-college focus businesses should take to aid diversity goals. With a post-col- lege focus, companies should think differently about where they are looking for applicants. "e leaders today in the corporate space may have to open up their doors to the workforce, which might not be coming from those Ivy institutions," she said. "Corporations need to think differently about the pedigree that they're requiring. Traditional measures won't work." Businesses should change recruitment poli- cies and the pools where companies have tradition- ally hired from, Joun said. Historically Black colleges and universities are one place. "is is an excellent opportunity to revisit and relook at, or look at for the first time: Do you really need a college degree to do the jobs you have openings for?" said Joun. To counter the end of affirmative action and still keep college student bodies diverse, the College of the Holy Cross plans to use a number of programs in place for years to try to attract more applicants from different backgrounds and geographic areas. "ere will be more work for us to do as institutions to get out into commu- nities so they know that we are eager to have them apply," Rougeau said. e college will have to double down on those initiatives and see where it can expand and improve, Rougeau said. "We will need to be more conscious of the financial need of the students we are asking to apply," he said. Colleges will need to put in an effort to rethink how admissions processes work, said Carol Ashley, an attorney with the national law firm Jackson Lewis, who worked on the amicus brief for the American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity. "It potentially affects everything from when you collect information about race, even if a student volunteers it," said Ashley. "[e Supreme Court ruling] is reframing college admissions." Race was always one careful consider- ation of a multitude, said Ashley, a limited factor where institutions could establish a record to say they would be unable to teach their diversity goals without its consideration. It will now have to play an even lesser part, and perhaps no part. "It takes years to recover from the inability to take race into carefully constructed consideration," Granberry Russell said. For now, businesses have more leni- ency than colleges in their approach to diversity goals, said Ashley. "We have to be cognizant about what we know are the benefits of diversity," said Ashley. "Schools and corporations have to take all steps within the param- eters of the court's decision and other legal authorities. ere is nothing within the court's decisions that speaks directly to corporations and businesses." Whatever approach individual businesses may take, moving forward re- quires action, and companies cannot use this moment to scale back their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, Joun said. "If organizations take this time to pause their DEI efforts, it's going to be that much harder to restart," she said. "If you pause, you go backwards." Paulette Granberry Russell, president of NADOHE Associates degree Bachelors degree Master's degree White Black Hispanic Asian/ Pacific Islander 64.3% 62.3% 52.4% 13.4% 10.3% 12.4% 11.3% 14.9% 24.4% 7.5% 8.2% 6.3% DEGREES BY RACE Total degrees conferred 1.01M 1.9M .69M Degrees conferred in the U.S. by race/ethnicity, 2019 Source: National Center for Education Statistics Juliette Mayers, founder of Inspiration Zone Su Joun, principal of Diversity@Workplace Associates degree Bachelors degree Master's degree White Black Hispanic Asian/ Pacific Islander 64.3% 62.3% 52.4% 13.4% 10.3% 12.4% 11.3% 14.9% 24.4% 7.5% 8.2% 6.3% DEGREES BY RACE Total degrees conferred 1.01M 1.9M .69M Black Hispanic Asian/ Pacific Islander White 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 N/A N/A N/A White alone, non-Hispanic N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 1967 1977 1987 1997 2007 2017 Percentage of high school graduates, aged 14-24, who enrolled or completed some college, by race/ethnicity Greater participation in college Since the 1960s, when affirmative action policies first took hold in U.S. colleges, the percentage of high school graduates aged 14-24 who enrolled or completed some college has risen across all racial and ethnic groups, and the largest gain has been among Black Americans. N/A= no available data; Note: Hispanics can be of any race. Source: U.S. Census Bureau W

• Cover