Why Sarah Lawrence College’s New Essay Prompt is Creating Big Buzz

Last week, Sarah Lawrence College released a new essay prompt asking applicants a simple question: How do you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced or affected by the Court’s decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions?

While the question on paper may seem harmless, some experts say the liberal arts college’s new essay prompt is a bold and not-so-subtle dig at the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, Inside Higher Ed reports.

WHAT SARAH LAWRENCE’S DEAN OF ADMISSIONS SAYS

The new prompt is one of three supplemental essays that applicants have the option of completing when applying to Sarah Lawrence College. According to Kevin McKenna, Sarah Lawrence’s dean of admissions, the original prompt used to ask applicants to “reflect on the values of diversity and inclusivity in a community like ours,” but that question seemed insincere following the court’s recent decision.

“There was a sentiment in the office and around the campus that it frankly felt disingenuous to simply reuse that same prompt,” McKenna says. “We thought this one could foreground both the intellectual rigor and thoughtfulness of our student body and that we are a community that values diversity and equity in education as part of its mission.”

McKenna says the purpose of the new essay question is not to collect details on students’ racial identify for admissions decisions, but rather, to encourage applicants to express their thoughts and feelings on the court’s ruling.

“The prompt is not doing the same work that the wording of the decision is doing, and that’s by design,” McKenna says. “What we’re really trying to do is give our applicants who are so inspired a space to address a challenging topic in society.”

A CHALLENGE TO THE COURT’S RULING?

On the day the Supreme Court ruled to end affirmative action, Anthony Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, went on WABE radio in Atlanta and made a bold prediction on how admissions offices across the country might respond to the ruling.

“If I was a university admissions officer and I wanted to preserve the status quo, I would essentially copy and paste the language [in the decision] about what universities can do and I would drop it in an essay prompt,” he says in the radiocast. “Then the policy, at bottom, would change very little.”

Kreis says he was being “slightly tongue-in-cheek” when he made that prediction, but he’s also not surprised that Sarah Lawrence could very well be applying that exact tactic.

“On the one hand, it gives them the ability to somewhat circumvent the ruling,” he said. “On the other hand, it gives them plausible deniability to be able to point to the case and say, ‘Well, we’re just doing what the court said.’”

Art Coleman, managing partner and founder of the legal consulting firm EducationCounsel LLC, says the recent ruling leaves room for admissions officers to interpret the issue of diversity in admissions.

“The court did what courts often do, and that’s to draw very fine lines. But admissions officers are also quite adept at drawing very fine lines … Lines that are challenging to toe? Yes. But navigable lines, I think,” he says. “As a general rule, if your essay question is quoting the court decision, that’s a good place to start.”

Sources: Inside Higher Ed, Sarah Lawrence College