The fact remains that Justice Roberts also warned against the use of essays as a surreptitious means of propping up affirmative action: “ Universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.”

At the same time, you rightly point out that Roberts did identify opportunities for applicants to provide a holistic view of applicants, which can include race.

Trinity’s embrace of a discrete application essay on race seems to really ride the line. Then again, Roberts seems to have spoken out of both sides of his mouth. It’ll be interesting to see how legal scholars interpret the nebulousness of parts of this ruling in the years to come.

Colleges still collect and report racial data. From the DoJ’s FAQ on the end of AA, “In collecting and using data, institutions should ensure that the racial demographics of the
applicant pool do not influence admissions decisions… The Court’s decision does not
prohibit institutions from reviewing such data for other purposes, but institutions should consider
steps that would prevent admissions officers who review student applications from using the data
to make admissions decisions based on individual applicants’ self-identified race or ethnicity.”

You are correct that SFFA banned racial discrimination in college admissions, but it also explicitly provided for the type of essay described in the article. Roberts writes, “A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination. Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university.”

Athar writes about Trinity’s “clear and open reporting” of racial statistics – down to a tenth of a percentage point! – but provides zero insights about how the data collection is done post-affirmative action. How does Hyde have data which can be shared at matriculation (typically in August) when some kind of unexplained census is apparently finalized afterwards in September?

And what is this census, anyway? The article offers no details on what it entails nor how it’s compliant in a post-affirmative action world. Does Trinity make a “best guess” about someone’s race from the admissions application – and its carefully crafted “experience of race” essay option to try to get around the Court’s decision – and then run a survey (voluntary or not) afterwards to make sure the admissions team “got it right?”

If not, how does Hyde know – to a tenth of a percentage point – the racial makeup of a class when that information is now illegal to add to an admissions application? Does he walk around campus checking people’s faces, skin colors and names?

Trinity may or may not have “clear and open reporting” in this arena, but this article sure didn’t explain much about how this data is collected.