Photo: Michael Theis

With two major affirmative-action cases before the U.S. Supreme Court—Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard—higher-ed experts and the public alike are looking for clues to how the justices may be leaning.

The moment is also seeing an outpouring of debate in the media. Here’s a roundup of how that discourse is playing out.

Photo: Brandon Bell

As the Supreme Court hears arguments on affirmative action, racial disparities in college enrollment and graduation rates remain entrenched. In some cases, they appear to have worsened with time.

Recent research looked at 101 of the most selective public colleges across the United States and found that many had failed to bring more students of color to their campuses, even as their states diversified around them. Inequities like these have ripple effects through college and beyond graduation. 

Creating a cultural center for Middle Eastern and North African students has become a priority at college campuses throughout the United States, where pressure is building to acknowledge their distinct racial and ethnic identity.

It’s part of a broader cultural reckoning about how people from this vast region of diverse languages, religions, colors, and cultures want to be recognized and valued.