If I understand it correctly, the supreme court’s ruling yesterday did not demand color blindness in the college admission process.  Rather, it only says colleges should not blindly use skin color as a predictor for a student’s qualifications and fitness.   Nor did the ruling reject in any way the value of diversity, including racial diversity.  Rather, the court merely opined that continuing to pursue this value through Affirmation Action can no longer be justified, partly because it violates the equal-protection clause in the Constitution, and partly because it has injured other people, notably Asian students.

Will Asian students and their parents find it any easier to get into the elite colleges in a post-AA world? I doubt it.   For one thing, elite colleges have many reasons and tools to continue the pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion. Not explicitly considering race does not mean a “pure” merit-based admission, in the narrow sense of the phrase many Asians have come to understand it.   Second, a post-AA world would still see a large number of admissions be slotted for the kids of alumnus, wealthy donors, and other powerful people on the dean’s mysterious list.   This favoritism, much more than AA ever did, has and will continue to squeeze the room of other applicants, including many Asians. Curiously, Americans seem to hold much less grudges about this injustice.  Finally, the expectation of an easier run would probably attract even more applications to the super competitive colleges, which I am afraid might further drive down the admission rate and, being so obsessively invested in education, Asians probably will feel it more acutely than other groups.