Listen without prejudice

Like many, I was dismayed last month when affirmative action, as it relates to university admissions in the US, was deemed unconstitutional by the country’s Supreme Court. The cover story for this edition is “Leaving on a jetplane”, and is centered on student mobility. It’s no secret that for many of the top destination countries for international education, the flow is unevenly one way. As the story illustrates, progress is being made to even the balance.

One of the main purposes and benefits of short-term student mobility is it provides local students with their own international experiences to broaden their opportunities and minds. Getting there, however, is multi-step. The crucial first step is being at university in the first place. With the recent decision in the US, my mind wanders at the prospect of how many students will miss out on mobility because that first step, stepping onto to campus, has just become a little harder.

My thoughts, however, are influenced by my own assumptions, and like those before it, this issue tries to at least address some of the assumptions we all have by providing insights into what events mean in practice. I strongly recommend the piece, “In pursuit of diversity”, in the newly renamed Dispatch section of the magazine.

The headlines we all saw were concerning, but there is still significant debate to what the decision might mean in practice. The onus of proving race was used as a factor when admitting a person into university, according to Cleveland State University law professor Reginald Oh, is quite difficult.