Scott Sprenger, President of The American University of Rome, issued the following response to the court's decision:
The American University of Rome (AUR) is founded on a mission of embracing diverse students from the U.S. and across the globe, as reflected in our university motto “Inter Gentes Trans Orbem.”
Although time is required to fully comprehend the legal implications of the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling on admissions policy, AUR will remain resolutely committed to providing educational opportunity to students from all backgrounds.
A summary of the court's decision:
The Supreme Court says colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission, a landmark decision overturning long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, saying the Harvard and University of North Carolina admissions programs violated the Equal Protection Clause because they failed to offer “measurable” objectives to justify the use of race.
“The Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause. Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today,” Roberts wrote.
Read more via Reuters here, NPR here, or Politico here.