Students, faculty and staff:

Friday night, the University of Michigan and other institutions of higher learning received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights that has important implications for our community and others around the nation.

The letter applies the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that struck down race-based affirmative action in college admissions more broadly than before. The letter states that “treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal.” 

The letter prohibits the use of race “in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

In two examples, the letter states that it is “unlawful for an educational institution to eliminate standardized testing to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity” and further states “a school may not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues as a means of determining or predicting a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students.”

The letter directs schools and universities to comply within 14 days and notes that those that fail to do so face potential loss of federal funding.

I am working with university leaders – most especially the executive vice presidents, chancellors of the Dearborn and Flint campuses, general counsel, vice president for government relations and the regents – to understand the full impact and implications of the guidance.

We expect future communications from the Department of Education could bring additional changes. I ask that you all continue to check the Key Issues page on federal guidance for updates.

The university continues to support success and opportunity for all of our students, faculty and staff. And we remain steadfast in our commitment to improving our world through service to the common good. 

Sincerely,

Santa J. Ono
President