After the Supreme Court’s decision against affirmative action in June 2023, many NIU students are questioning if their scholarships are in jeopardy. The NIU Faculty Senate is discussing which of the race-based scholarships they have to get rid of. The decision to remove scholarships has the real possibility of hurting students financially and their ability to attend NIU.

Affirmative action promoted the equal opportunity for students of all backgrounds to attend college. In 1961, under former President John F. Kennedy, affirmative action started as a way to combat discrimination and give representation to minority groups by allowing race to be considered in college admissions.

The benefit of affirmative action was that it allowed for the diversification of college campuses, allowing people of all backgrounds to go to college. It was a step in the right direction in fixing the wrongs of inequality and helped give minorities the ability to go to college.

NIU’s decision on scholarships will affect many students on campus, so there should be careful consideration in what they do. How NIU decides to handle scholarships can affect NIU as an institution, with scholarships playing a role in what universities people choose to attend.

The scholarships that NIU is going to target mainly have to do with race and are the ones that are going to get scrutinized the most.

NIU does not have any other choice than to submit to the Supreme Court’s ruling. All NIU has to do is to just be mindful and considerate that the decisions they make are beneficial to all students.  

NIU having to make decisions like this on scholarships, leaving people questioning if there are scholarships that are going to benefit them, is just a symptom of why getting rid of affirmative action was a wrong decision by the Supreme Court.