The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that race could be used as a factor in admissions programs at universities; however, NIU won’t be affected directly by the ruling.

The court’s decision allows universities to give minority applicants an edge in admissions, citing that racial quotas are unconstitutional. The decision was the first stance on the issue since 1978 when racial quotas were outlawed, leaving race as a “plus factor.”

LaVerne Gyant, director of the Center for Black Studies, said it is good the court found the ruling unconstitutional.

“I was like, ‘thank God,’” she said. “It’s going to be interesting to see in the next year how people respond [to the ruling].”

Bob Burk, director of admissions, said the decision won’t affect NIU’s admissions policy.

Because of the ruling, universities in general still can use race as far as one of the factors to determine the admission of students, Burk said. However, if college-bound students apply to NIU and meet both admissions and deadline requirements, they are accepted automatically.

“One of the things [University of Michigan] was worried about was that they have so many applications that come in, so they use [requirements] as a first pass,” Burk said.

He said that NIU considers test scores, rank in class or grade point average and courses taken in high school when granting admission to NIU applicants.

“This ruling really affects only the most selective schools in the country,” Burk said. “It will affect those schools more than [schools] like Northern or ISU, who are selective, but not as extremely selective as others.”

Sylvia Fuentes, director of the University Resources for Latinos, said NIU will continue to see a diverse population on campus, even with the new ruling.

“Minorities were real pleased because it continues to offer an opportunity to level the playing field in terms of admissions for minority students,” she said.

Burk doesn’t see NIU changing its admissions process any time soon.

“I think Northern is always looking to look at its admissions requirements and sees where it wants to be,” Burk said. “I don’t see anything changing as far as our selectivity.”

News Editor Libby John and The Associated Press contributed to this story.