“Whether we’re going toward the time when it’s not necessary depends on what policies we adopt,” he said. “If we go on the course we’ve been following since the Reagan administration, it’s going to be very necessary—the gaps are going to widen.”
And his outlook on the future of race-conscious admissions policies in the wake of the Court’s rulings was optimistic.
“The objective has been pretty sweepingly upheld by the Supreme Court, and it’s a much more conservative one than the one which upheld Bakke,” Orfield said. “That’s remarkable.”
—J. Hale Russell contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu.