On June 29th, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer use race as a factor in admissions, with an exception for military academies. The decisions came in 2 separate affirmative action cases, one against Harvard College and the other against the University of North Carolina. This hour, we discuss the impact of those decisions. Jin Hee Lee, who, as part of the Legal Defense Fund, led representation of 25 Harvard student and alumni groups in the Harvard case, offers her take on what the decisions mean. We'll also learn about the impact on community college from Dr. John Maduko, President of Connecticut State Community College. And, finally, we talk to U.S. Secretary of Education and former Connecticut elementary school student and teacher Dr. Miguel Cardona about how the Biden Administration plans to make college classrooms more diverse in the wake of the decisions.

GUESTS:

• Jin Hee Lee: Director of Strategic Initiatives at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). She also oversees LDF’s Pro Truth Initiative, and led LDF’s representation of 25 Harvard student and alumni groups in the Harvard affirmative action case
• Dr. John Maduko: President of Connecticut State Community College
• Dr. Miguel Cardona: United States Secretary of Education; former student, teacher and administrator in Connecticut schools; former Commissioner for the Connecticut State Department of Education

Special thanks to our interns Carol Chen and Stacey Addo, who helped produce this episode.

Special thanks to Priya Sagar, Celeste Petrowsky and Wena Teng.

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