WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded an extensive set of guidelines put in place under President Barack Obama that had called on colleges and universities to consider race as a way of promoting diversity. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the 24 documents many of which gave advice to schools on how to deal with Supreme Court decisions on race and admissions "were unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper." It has the effect of bringing the federal government's position on affirmative action close to that of the George W. Bush administration which held that race could be considered only if a university had no other way of achieving a diverse student class. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled over a series of cases that universities may use affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college. Conservatives have argued such programs can hurt whites and Asian-Americans. The rules under Obama, a Democrat, were issued by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education. They tell universities and colleges that it is acceptable to use race as a tool to achieve diversity. For example, one of the guidances, "Question and Answers About Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin," poses the question "Did the Supreme Court change what colleges and universities must do to narrowly tailor their admissions programs to meet the compelling interest in diversity?" It answers, "No." The Republican Trump administration's move is being viewed by Democrats and liberals as a way to weaken affirmative action. "The Administration’s rollback of vital affirmative action guidance offends our nation’s values and promise of opportunity for all," said Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House of Representatives' Democratic leader. The Justice Department under President Donald Trump has been investigating a complaint by more than 60 Asian-American organizations that say Harvard University's policies are discriminatory because they limit the acceptance of Asian-Americans. Story continues The department joined Students for Fair Admissions, the group behind the case, which has urged the disclosure of "powerful" evidence showing that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard is violating Title VI of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. Harvard says its admissions policies comply with U.S. laws and that it has worked to boost financial aid to ensure economic, as well as racial, diversity in its classes. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Damon Darlin; editing by Alistair Bell and Grant McCool)<doc-sep>President Donald Trump shows the signed executive order supporting black colleges and universities in the Oval Office of the White House February 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo : Aude Guerrucci ( Getty Images ) In continuing with the White House’s theme on hating people of color while simultaneously undoing the legacy of former president of the United States and current president of Wakanda, Barack Obama, the Trump administration will rescind policies that included using race as a factor in achieving diversity in schools. Advertisement “The Justice Department will scrap seven guidance documents issued by the Education Department under the Obama administration that called on school superintendents and colleges to consider race when trying to diversify their campuses,” The New York Times reports. Instead the administration would rather harken back to the good ole days when George W. Bush was president and strongly encourage “the use of race-neutral methods” in admissions, the Times said. According to CNN, colleges will no longer be able to include race in admissions when attempting to diversify campuses. The move isn’t a fatal blow to affirmative action, but it’s the move right before the Trump administration starts circling the ring to rile up the crowd while affirmative action lay helpless in the ring. It’s the move before affirmative action taps out. On Monday, Trump is expected to announce his pick for the Supreme Court and you can expect this pick to be one of the worst judges in the history of judges. As such, conservatives are chomping at the bit to get their hands on affirmative action and Trump’s latest move is a signal to where this is all headed. Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, condemned the move as a “motivated attack on affirmative action.” “We condemn the Department of Education’s politically motivated attack on affirmative action and deliberate attempt to discourage colleges and universities from pursuing racial diversity at our nation’s colleges and universities,” Clarke told CNN. “The rescission of this guidance does not overrule forty years of precedent that affirms the constitutionality of a university’s limited use of race in college admissions. This most recent decision by the Department of Education is wholly consistent with the administration’s unwavering hostility towards diversity in our schools.”<doc-sep>President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE is set to rescind a series of Obama-era policies and guidelines that promote the use of race in college admissions in order to promote campus diversity, according to The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, the move comes as the Department of Justice investigates how race factors into admissions at Harvard University. The probe is focusing on whether Asian-Americans are illegally being held to a higher standard in the university's admissions. ADVERTISEMENT The Trump administration is specifically rescinding documents that laid out the legal recommendations and guidelines for schools that wanted to promote diversity. The documents focused on how to properly use race in admissions. The Trump administration reportedly plans on arguing that the rules, established by former President Obama in 2011 and 2016, are not legal and violate the Supreme Court's precedent on affirmative action. The Journal reports that Trump officials will argue that the documents are misleading about how easy it is to implement affirmative action within the scope of the law. The Journal also notes that the Trump administration revived the investigation into Harvard after civil rights officials dismissed a similar complaint during Obama's presidency. The news comes as Harvard and other colleges face more scrutiny regarding their admissions processes. In mid-June, a lawsuit filed in federal court claimed Harvard regularly ranked Asian-American applicants' personality traits lower than any other race. The Trump administration has undone a number of other Obama-era policies in education and the environment, including closing civil rights probes.<doc-sep>
The Trump administration will end a set of Obama-era policies and guidelines that aim to promote diversity on university campuses by encouraging the use of race in college admissions, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The policies, enacted by President Barack Obama's Justice and Education departments in 2011 and 2016, focused on providing legal guidance to colleges that wanted to include race as a factor in admissions. The guidelines encouraged schools to "avoid racial isolation" when evaluating prospective students. The Trump administration, which has long signaled its dissatisfaction with affirmative action, argued that these policies went beyond the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action and misled schools into exceeding the legal precedent. "The executive branch cannot circumvent Congress or the courts by creating guidance that goes beyond the law and—in some instances—stays on the books for decades," Justice Department spokesperson Devin O'Malley told CNN in a statement. "Last year, the Attorney General initiated a review of guidance documents, which resulted in dozens of examples—including today's second tranche of rescissions—of documents that go beyond or are inconsistent with the Constitution and federal law. The Justice Department remains committed to enforcing the law and protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-based discrimination." But Anurima Bhargava, who monitored civil rights enforcement in schools under Obama's Justice Department said that the Trump administration was just trying to decrease diversity in higher education. "The law on this hasn't changed, and the Supreme Court has twice ruled reaffirming the importance of diversity," she told The Wall Street Journal. "This is a purely political attack that benefits nobody." On Twitter, Vanita Gupta, who ran the Justice Department's civil rights department during Obama's presidency, wrote: "This guidance restated the law and our national commitment to diversity. The retraction reflects that the DOJ no longer has that commitment." This guidance restated the law and our national commitment to diversity. The retraction reflects that the DOJ no longer has that commitment. https://t.co/QOQewFWBmd — Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) July 3, 2018 The Supreme Court set the precedent that allowed for affirmative action in college admission decisions in 1978 and reaffirmed that precedent in 2003, 2013 and 2016. "I'm pleased that the Supreme Court upheld the basic notion that diversity is an important value in our society," President Obama told reporters at the White House after the 2016 ruling. "We are not a country that guarantees equal outcomes, but we do strive to provide an equal shot to everybody." But conservatives argue that these rulings could unfairly harm white and Asian college applicants. Trump's Justice Department has agreed to investigate a complaint filed by more than 60 Asian-American advocacy groups that claims Harvard University's admissions process discriminates against Asian candidates by limiting their acceptance rate. In June, a special report by ProPublica found that Trump's Department of Education had dropped more than 1,200 civil rights investigations opened during the Obama administration. In April, the department, headed by Betsy DeVos, set in force new guidelines that allowed the closing of civil rights investigations if they were considered "too burdensome " to investigate.