PHOENIX — Two of Arizona's state universities say the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Students for Fair Admissions. Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina will have no impact on them.
The Supreme Court decisions end the use of race as a criterion for university admissions.
In 2010, Arizona voters said yes to Proposition 107. It bans consideration of race, ethnicity or gender in hiring state employees, issuing of state contracts and deciding who gets enrolled in state universities.
"I think the decision by the Supreme Court is actually a great one because it says state-sanctioned racial discrimination is not okay," said State Representative Steve Montenegro.
Thirteen years ago, Representative Montenegro led the charge to pass Proposition 107.
On Thursday, both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona said the Supreme Court decisions will have no impact on them.
ASU admits all Arizona students who meet the university's admission requirements.
The University of Arizona said as the state's land grant university and Hispanic Serving Institution, we are proud to have seen significant growth in diverse student enrollment over the last decade.
"What I say is look what we need to do is to continue to move forward in understanding that we have to allow people to be themselves and judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin," State Representative Montenegro said.
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva called the Supreme Court ruling devasting and inconsistent with previous court findings.
Grijalva said the rulings "threaten the progress we've made to provide equal access, opportunity and diverse learning environments for all students."
