CHI Salon Considers Diversity in the Wake of Affirmative Action Decision

The first Center for Humanistic Inquiry (CHI) Salon of the semester offered a space to discuss the importance of diversity and reactions to a Supreme Court case that ended race-based affirmative action.

Held on Wednesday, Sept. 18, the discussion was moderated by Faculty Equity and Inclusion Officers Ivan Contreras and Sony Coráñez Bolton, along with Dean of New Students Kiara M. Vigil.

The salon was one of the campus’ first public discussions of the impacts of the end of affirmative action. It was held in the wake of a close to three-quarters drop in the number of Black students in the class of 2028 that has put the college in the national spotlight. Students and faculty expressed a range of complex emotions on the subject.

Director of the CHI Michael Kunichika, who organized the event, began by highlighting the importance of interrogating the category of “diversity” in the new legal landscape.

“It is a category that is incredibly under threat and urgently requires rethinking,” Kunichika said.

Contreras echoed the need to tackle the ramifications of the decision’s prohibition of race-conscious admissions.

“I think it’s an important step to realize there is something that we should be talking about,”  Contreras said. “I think listening is important, in this moment of crisis.”

Matthew L. McGann, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, was also in attendance and gave his perspective on the changes to the Class of 2028’s demographic makeup, which saw the percentage of Black students in the class of 2028 drop to 3% from last year’s 11%, according to federal reporting guidelines.

“I am joining many of you in grieving,” he said. “This is not really the result that we wanted. I am proud of each member of the class of 2028 — they’re all excellent Amherst students, but collectively, I don’t think this result accomplished what we want to for admissions,” McGann said.

McGann’s attitude was shared by others in attendance, including Associate Professor of Biology Marc Edwards. For him, Amherst’s diverse community was a major draw to the college, especially as a Black biologist in a predominantly white field.

“Part of the opportunity, for me, [to teach at Amherst] was to walk into … a room that had a majority of kids holding identities that have typically been historically marginalized in STEM,” Edwards said.

He said that the Court’s decision has made it harder for him to achieve this core mission of his teaching.

“I love the students that are here, all of them. But, I can also be frank with what the opportunity is for me here. What I’m here to do, the public I’m here to serve. That’s a really important part of me being at Amherst.”

In the midst of these concerns over the end of race-conscious admissions, Coráñez Bolton added that it’s important to consider how these conversations may affect first-years.

“Our love for your class and our disdain for this political situation sometimes feel like they’re in acrimony with one another. I think we need to be more cognizant as faculty that that’s how it might be landing on students,” Coráñez Bolton said.

The discussion made clear that students from the class of 2028 are also exploring ways to respond to changing regulations. Vigil said that a first-year student from Iran arranged to meet with her to discuss a possible scholarship for displaced students.

“She said, this is my response to reading President Elliott’s message to the community regarding the demographic shift for 2028 as a member of the class of 2028,” Vigil said. After the discussion wrapped up, August Holcombe Pomerance ’28 remarked on the unique nature of the salon, where students and faculty engage with each other as equals.

“It was not in the format I expected. I thought it was going to be more of a panel, so it was interesting that it was more discussion-based,” he said. “I thought it was really good, it was a difficult discussion.”

Coráñez Bolton also reflected on how having these different types of conversations may be helpful for the campus community.

“The response I got after the event, people did remark in similar ways to me, that this event felt different, it felt like it was really needed,” Coráñez Bolton said. “It felt like an outlet, it felt like a relief, it felt cathartic in some ways. I can see there might be an appetite for more intimate conversations, or personal conversations.”