Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | July 24, 2023 | wbjournal.com FOCUS H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N Diversity DENIED With affirmative action now barred in college admissions, workplace and education officials expect an immediate impact in the diversity at the start of the workforce talent pipeline and worry about a cooling effect on DEI efforts overall College students Management Executives CEOs Educated workforce College applicants IMAGES | ADOBESTOCK.COM; WBJ PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ISABEL TEHAN WBJ Staff Writer T he bottom of the corporate ladder is about to become less diverse. When the U.S. Supreme Court in June effectively ended affirmative action in higher edu- cation admissions, the justices made it harder for Black and brown applicants to get into colleges and universities, particularly elite schools. While the impact will play out over decades, work- place and education officials anticipate the pool of college graduates entering the workforce will become less diverse. Moreover, they're worried diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the cor- porate world may fall by the wayside, as goals face increased public headwinds and become more difficult to obtain. "I am concerned about the level of controversy growing about the idea that it's important for our institutions to reflect the diversity of the popula- tion," said Vincent Rougeau, president of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. If businesses are serious about DEI, they must increase their efforts to help people from disad- vantaged backgrounds get into college, and those companies must reevaluate hiring criteria to place value on diverse experiences, said Valerie Zolezzi-Wyn- dham, founder and CEO of Promoting Good, an Upton DEI consulting firm. "It's a long game that should have been happening already," she said. The pool of individ- uals entering the workforce Since the 1960s, affirmative action has been one of a slew of factors dra- matically altering the diversity of college students. Over the past five decades, societal, cultural, and political changes have played out to affect diversity in higher education and beyond. e removal of affirmative action in college admissions is predicted to impact for Black and brown students. "We need to be realistic about chal- lenges," Rougeau said. "Many in higher Vincent Rougeau, president of the College of the Holy Cross Valerie Zolezzi- Wyndham, founder of Promoting Good

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