Good morning, and congratulations for making it to Friday, and the last day of June. 

Lots of reaction to the Supreme Court decision that says colleges and universities can no longer use race as a factor in student admissions. 

The Minnesota Senate People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus released a statement saying the decision “demonstrates just how deeply white supremacy permeates the halls of power in the United States. In a country that, within our lifetimes, denied citizens the right to vote based on the color of their skin; and in the past century, denied the indigenous peoples of this land citizenship at all; now six people deny institutions of higher education the ability to counteract the harms of four centuries of racism, segregation and discrimination encoded in U.S. law,” the statement read in part. 

Republican U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad saw it differently. “College admissions should never be based on race, rather it should be based on a student’s merits,” Finstad said in a statement. “It is unacceptable to deprive qualified students of educational opportunities because they don’t fit a certain demographic, which is why I was proud to lead my colleagues in addressing this very issue in our own backyard at the University of Minnesota earlier this year.”  

Office of Higher Education (OHE) commissioner Dennis Olson said the ruling was “disappointing,” but a decision many universities across the state were anticipating, reported MPR’s Olivia Stevens. “It's important for prospective students and families and communities to understand that this was for some, one of the many criteria that were examined for admissions decisions,” Olson said. “There's a lot of opportunity out there, and Minnesota is certainly not walking away from their commitment whatsoever.” According to data collected by the OHE, from 2010 to 2021, enrollment of students of color at Minnesota post-secondary institutions increased from 19 percent to 30 percent. However, white students are still 34 percent more likely to attend than students of color statewide. University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday predicts universities will accommodate for the change by replacing boxes applicants check indicating their race with essay questions that lean into that discussion. Macalester College, a selective private college in St. Paul, plans to do just that.

The ruling on affirmative action might not have much immediate impact on public colleges and universities in Minnesota, the Rochester Post Bulletin reported, because there’s not much competition to get in:  Most state universities are coping with declining enrollment, not how to parcel out a limited number of admission slots to student applicants. “My first answer would be, probably not,” said Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, chair of the House Higher Education Finance Committee. “That hasn’t been an issue that’s come before the Legislature in some time.” Nate Stoltman, a spokesperson at Rochester Community and Technical College, said the SCOTUS ruling will have “no effect on our current process.” “At RCTC, we are an open-access institution that only requires completion of a high school diploma or its equivalent and does not consider any other factors in the application and admissions process,” Stoltman said.

In other news, state officials are moving the first deadline for eligible Medical Assistance recipients, giving 35,000 Minnesotans more time to complete and submit their renewal paperwork to maintain coverage, reports MPR’s Michelle Wiley. “We worked with [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services], who is the federal partner for Medicaid, to work on gaining approval to give them some additional time,” said Julie Marquardt, acting state Medicaid director at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The extension to Aug. 1 provides more time to “work with all of our community partners, our managed care organizations, our counties, our tribes, to do some additional targeted outreach to those that we may not have heard from, and see if we can ensure that they get their renewal information in on time so that we can avoid any gaps in their health care coverage,” she said.

Minnesota’s new law allowing convicted felons to vote as soon as they are released from incarceration has promoted a lawsuit. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports: A group known as the Minnesota Voters Alliance sued in Anoka County District Court Thursday to try to stop the law passed by the Legislature earlier this year. It allows adults who aren’t incarcerated to vote even if they remain on parole or probation, which were obstacles they faced in the past. An estimated 50,000 people were impacted by the change, which will allow them to vote in elections beginning this year. In the lawsuit, the conservative voters group argues that writers of the state constitution intended for all aspects of a sentence to be completed before civil rights, including voting, are restored. They say a change approved by the Legislature isn’t enough. The voting rights of felons has been through Minnesota courts before. In February, the Minnesota Supreme Court deferred to the Legislature to determine when a person could regain voting rights. 

Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester said Thursday she was released from the hospital after open-heart surgery earlier this month. Nelson said the surgery, for a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, was a success, and she thanked the team at Mayo Clinic’s St. Mary’s Hospital. “During my recovery period, I will sadly not be able to attend the in-district events that I enjoy so much but I will continue to monitor things from my home, and I look forward to returning to my usual full calendar around mid-August,” Nelson said in a statement and encouraged people to pay attention if their doctor says they have a heart murmur. 

This newsletter is taking Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate Independence Day. See you again here on Wednesday.