July 5: Alumni React to SCOTUS Ban on Affirmative Action

Commenting on last week’s Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action, Vanderbilt professor Michael Eric Dyson *93 compared affirmative action to the G.I. Bill. “When it is applied to white Americans, it seems to be noncontroversial. When applied to African American people, not so much,” he said. — ABC News
 
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell ’04 said despite the Supreme Court ruling, she’ll continue working to remove barriers that keep students of color from higher education. “…We’re going to keep fighting like hell,” she said. — CommonWealth Magazine

Colorado Rep. Ken Buck ’81 suggested students look to “role models who didn’t need affirmative action,” such as Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. — The Hill
 
Columnist Ramesh Ponnuru ’95 argued that the Supreme Court should have ruled not that affirmative action is unconstitutional, but that it’s illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. — The Washington Post
 
A stage director incorporated soprano Maya Kherani ’10’s pregnancy into a production of “Orfeo,” a measure of support singers say is rare for mothers in the opera world. — The New York Times
 
David Waud ’69 said he felt safe two years ago when he rode to the Titanic in Stockton Rush ’84’s Titan submersible, which imploded last week. “I still consider Stockton to be a hero in many ways with the vision he had to make it possible,” Waud said. — The Chicago Sun-Times
 
The Detroit Pistons signed Princeton star forward Tosan Evbuomwan ’23 to an Exhibit-10 contract after the recent NBA draft. — The Detroit Free Press
 
In his book, Black Dignity, Villanova professor Vincent Lloyd ’03 “offers the contribution of a keen intellect articulating the underlying philosophy of Black Lives Matter.” — America magazine
 
As she works to launch Canada’s first women’s professional soccer league, Project 8, in 2025, Diana Matheson ’08 answered a series of questions about herself and her career. — The Globe and Mail
 
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ’86 is teaming up with actor Leonardo DiCaprio to help a Brazilian government effort to safeguard around 145 million acres of Amazon rainforest and strengthen the rights of Indigenous people there. — People
 
In his new book, Holding the Note, New Yorker editor David Remnick ’81 assembles essays he’s written about musicians, “detailed close-ups of aged heroes” including Leonard Cohen and Aretha Franklin. — The Washington Post

“I think there is an odd understanding of elite college admissions in the United States that says that they are what dictate your worth, that if you have gotten into an elite college, it says something about you.”

— Columnist and author Christine Emba ’10 discussing the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action. — The Washington Post

Writing professor John McPhee ’53’s newest book — Tabula Rasa Vol. 1, due out July 11 — was inspired by Mark Twain’s autobiography. — Publisher’s Weekly
 
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 slammed the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of a Christian web designer who refused to work for same-sex couples, saying the ruling issues a “new license to discriminate.” — NBC News
 
It was “remarkable” for Justice Elena Kagan ’81 to say the Supreme Court’s decision against President Biden’s student-debt-relief plan is unconstitutional, wrote columnist Jamelle Bouie. “Kagan’s dissent, in other words, is a call for accountability,” he wrote. — The New York Times
 
Former Google executive Eric Schmidt ’76 won a Russian oligarch’s yacht at auction, but now the oligarch’s daughter says in court documents that Antigua had no right to auction it off. — Daily Mail

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