Liberals Should Focus on Class, Not Race
Richard D. Kahlenberg explains why the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action should have been seen as liberating for both universities and Democrats.
Students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Photographer: Eros Hoagland/Getty ImagesRace-based affirmative action no longer has a place in college admissions after the Supreme Court in 2023 eliminated what had been an attempt by universities to create multiracial campuses. In Class Matters: The Fight To Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges , Richard D. Kahlenberg, a liberal who testified for the conservatives who brought those cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, lays out his decades-long push for university admissions, and Democrats, to focus on class rather than race. Kahlenberg is director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute and teaches at George Washington University. This transcript has been edited and condensed.
Nia-Malika Henderson: The Trump administration sees diversity, equity and inclusion as “woke” so they're moving to strip DEI out of the federal government and elsewhere. What do you make of that?