How Rich Colleges Like Harvard And Princeton Can Afford To Ignore The Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Ruling

The Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action in college admissions in June, but many elite super-wealthy schools wouldn’t have to comply if they simply refused federal funds.

_{By Hank Tucker, Forbes Staff}

Elite college presidents reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision banning affirmative action in college admissions on June 29 with near-universal disapproval. Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement that the court’s opinion was “unwelcome and disappointing” and would make the school’s work to sustain and improve the diversity of its student body “more difficult.” Yale president Peter Salovey said he was “deeply troubled” in his statement. Other Ivy League schools and elite liberal arts colleges like Amherst, Williams and Pomona echoed those sentiments.

For all the hand-wringing, there is an easy way for institutions to legally refuse to comply with the Court and thus have the freedom to shape their incoming freshman classes using race as a factor, as they have in the past: Don’t take any of the government’s money. The Supreme Court only has jurisdiction over colleges that take federal funds, so the government couldn’t go after them for maintaining the status quo if they refused aid.