The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to release an opinion soon in a case involving UNC-Chapel Hill’s treatment of race in college admissions. Legal scholars anticipate the decision could limit affirmative action policies at colleges nationwide.
Andrew Brennen graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2019. When he was a student at the university, he and several other students of color were permitted to become a party to the case on the same side as UNC. The students provided testimony on the value of a diverse campus.
WUNC’s education reporter Liz Schlemmer spoke with Brennen about the experience.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
This must have been a very big commitment as a student, and it's been a long commitment. Now, nine years later, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this case. Why did you want to be involved? And how did it all start for you?
"One of my classmates approached me about meeting with some lawyers who were on campus. They had heard about the 'Students For Fair Admissions' lawsuit against the university and were seeking to organize students to offer perspectives and testimony that we felt like the university may not be as inclined to offer themselves.
"As an African American student on campus at UNC, a school that at the time was 11% Black in a state that was 22% Black, I felt like the perspectives of students of color who were facing at the time, real racial hostility and isolation on campus, would be important to inform the discussion about race conscious admissions."
What were those experiences in your time as a student at Chapel Hill that were especially important to you to share with the federal judge — and then U.S. Supreme Court justices — deciding this case?
"I had grown up in the South my entire life, but it wasn't until I was on campus at UNC that I encountered my first, second and third Confederate rallies.
"I recall, during my first year on campus, the topic of affirmative action coming up in class, and one of my classmates wondering whether affirmative action makes it hard to know whether their Black peers deserve to be on campus. I was one of two Black students in the class at the time and felt like I failed to come to the defense of my entire race, in responding to my classmate's comments. Experiences like that, experiences feeling like we are asked to be spokespeople of our race because of how few Black students are on campus, are the kinds of experiences that we felt were important to reflect in the record of the case. ...
"These questions about, you know, how are folks from different races, regions, and backgrounds able to come together in an English class to discuss issues of importance to the country? Well, that's exactly what college is supposed to be, and without affirmative action, that reality is under threat."
A judge allowed you and several other students to take part in the case. You testified in a lower court hearing then traveled to Washington, D.C., to listen to the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in-person. What was it like to be there?
"Well, as we were walking down the steps of the Supreme Court, following the oral arguments, I couldn't help but to think about the other Black folks and civil rights leaders who'd taken a similar stroll down those steps following Supreme Court arguments that had similarly weighty repercussions for our democracy.
"While I was listening to the oral arguments themselves, I couldn't help but to feel that the zero-sum framing of the debate obscured what was really at stake. There was a lot of talk about how when one African American student is admitted to school, that that necessarily comes at the expense of a potentially more deserving white student.
"But what I think is missed in that construction is the fact that if we were not to ensure diverse campuses, that both the white student and the Black student would face the threat of a weakened democracy. That is what's at stake when we're talking about race conscious admissions."
Note: Students for Fair Admissions is a legal advocacy group that sued UNC-Chapel Hill, arguing the university gives an advantage to students of underrepresented races in admissions decisions, at the expense of white and Asian applicants. No applicants to UNC-Chapel Hill have come forward as plaintiffs to give testimony that they were harmed by admissions practices. Andrew Brennen is one of only a few UNC students who were granted legal standing in the case to argue on the side of the university.
