In September 2023, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sued the military academy of West Point over its application of affirmative action during the admissions process, claiming that “West Point focuses on race” instead of “admitting future cadets based on objective metrics and leadership potential.” They argue that the tradition of evaluating recruits based on their achievements has changed.
Having previously sued and won against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, the Students for Fair Admissions are trying to prevent affirmative action use in possibly all of the military academies’ admissions processes.
In its previous ruling, the Supreme Court purposely left a footnote that excluded military academies. These include West Point, the Air Force Academy, and the Naval Academy. The Court claims that military academies have “potentially distinct interests” and consider race-conscious admissions critical to “national security.”
Despite the Supreme Court excluding the academies from its ban on affirmative action, SFFA has pursued the case concerning West Point, asserting that there is no clear objective in employing affirmative action and that using this principle in admissions violates the constitutional right to equal treatment for everyone.
West Point has not made statements regarding the claims made by SFFA since they want to “protect the integrity of [the lawsuit’s] outcome for all parties.” In the meantime, the Supreme Court continues to evaluate the case.
In a prior Supreme Court case called Grutter vs. Bollinger, the Court ruled that the University of Michigan’s Law School could continue incorporating affirmative action and consider race a factor in its admissions process.
The U.S. Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar, stated that “having a diverse officer corps is a critical national security imperative.” A case file used in Grutter vs. Bollinger regarding the Vietnam War has said that there were tensions between racial groups during the war. It points out that few African American officers were serving during the Vietnam War, only about 3% by its end. Over the years, the number of African-American officers has increased to 12.3%. This number is almost the same as the percentage of African Americans in the American population.
Students for Fair Admissions argue that the issues related to the Vietnam War were merely situational and that the soldiers who fought in the war were subject to the draft. The group is representing, in their case, two white high school students who want to get into West Point, pointing to the fact that the students are facing possible discrimination in the admissions process.
“Over the years, courts have been mindful of the military’s unique role in our nation’s life and the distinctive considerations that come with it,” president of SFFA, Edward Blum, said in a statement. “However, no level of deference justifies these polarizing and disliked racial classifications and preferences in admissions to West Point or any of our service academies.”
SFFA also explains that the use of affirmative action, while it may help some, also hurts others in admissions; that is, their success in the future could just be a matter of race.
“Because skin color can be—and often is—a decisive factor for successful applicants chosen from those congressional nominee pools, it is equally dispositive for the other qualified nominees who are turned away,” SFFA states in their lawsuit.
However, according to a brief filed in support of the colleges in the Harvard case, the percentage of active military members who are white, about 53%, is less than the percentage of military officers who are white, at about 73%. In contrast, the amount of African Americans on active duty is 18%, which is more than the amount of officers at about 8%. The chances of an academy graduate becoming an officer is about 20%. This discrepancy could be a reason why West Point is using affirmative action, as they want to increase the number of military officers who are African American to mirror the nation’s diversity better.
What the Supreme Court decides with West Point would most likely apply to all the military academies. Pregolar states that “at present, it’s not possible to achieve… diversity without race-conscious admissions.”
A 1994 West Point graduate and professor of U.S. military history, John W. Hall, agrees. “The U.S. military was relatively ahead of the rest of society in implementing what today we call diversity, equity, and inclusion programs,” he says. “There is considerable risk associated with revoking those policies.”
Written by Huy Changvu of Cabin John Middle School
Photo Courtesy of Flickr