WWhen the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling overturning the use of race-conscious college admissions, LaShyra Nolen was on clinical rotation. For Nolen, a fourth-year medical student at Harvard Medical School, the news sent a chill down her spine, even though she had anticipated it. “It felt very lonely,” says Nolen, who is black and the first in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree and study medicine.
The court’s decision effectively ends affirmative action at U.S. colleges and universities. Many medical education leaders view the ruling as a seismic shift in the U.S. higher education landscape.
Affirmative action made its way into American public policy in the 1960s, when many white-majority schools began admitting minority students. Its goal was to address historic racial imbalances in schools and create a more equitable and diverse educational environment. But now many universities will have to change their admissions programs to remove race-conscious policies — which will significantly impact admission rates for black, African-American, and international students.
STAT asked Nolen about what affirmative action has meant to her, and about the broader impact of the Supreme Court ruling on medical education and post-affirmative action America. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Affirmative action has been an important public policy in getting black students and students from other underrepresented groups into public colleges and publicly funded private schools in the United States. Can you tell me what this has meant for you?
I am a descendant of enslaved people and a first generation medical student. Growing up, I had no access to generation wealth. I remember being so sad when my mom couldn’t afford me to attend SAT classes because they were very expensive. What affirmative action has meant to me is that it gave me a platform to apply for opportunities, including medical school, scholarships and grants – and to be considered for admission and holistically considered as a candidate.
Affirmative Action enabled me to walk into rooms I never would have had the chance to walk into. And in every room I’ve been I add value; I bring perspectives that otherwise would not have been there. It has allowed me to be seen for who I am and what it takes to be where I am. It allowed me to excel because I could be placed in these spaces.
How did you feel when you heard the news of the Supreme Court affirmative action ruling?
On that afternoon I was on clinical rotation when I heard the news about the abolition of affirmative action. I felt very lonely. I had to prepare for a presentation. But I spent 30 minutes texting my friends about it and how I felt. I wanted to get a virtual hug, a reassurance from my community, because no one around me was talking about it. All I heard were keyboard clicks. While I think medical care should continue, sometimes I wish we could pause and recognize that the care we provide fits the context of a country in a tough socio-political atmosphere. So at that point it just felt very lonely to me and frustrating to have to sit there and go about my duties as a medical student.
How does this action affect future medical students from black communities and other groups that are woefully underrepresented in medicine?
I worry what it might do for their confidence. We need more black doctors and I’m afraid they’re going to see this now and say what’s the point? Because, for example, the MCAT is the hardest test I’ve ever taken in my life and they are very expensive, costing over $1,000. It also takes a lot of time to study for the tests. So if you live with a single parent or don’t have access to intergenerational wealth, as many descendants of enslaved people don’t, how are you supposed to set aside those eight to ten hours a day it takes to study? ? Affirmative Action enabled us to view race as a way to understand these unique challenges faced by students from underrepresented backgrounds. Without it, I fear that many students will be overlooked and many prospective students may anticipate being overlooked and decide not to apply.
When we look at how many people in medical school are wealthy, many times they’re daughters or siblings of doctors, it’s just a very uneven field. What positive action tried to do, even if it was imperfect, is to try to level the playing field. I hope institutions can find a way to really try to see the wealth of students from minority and marginalized backgrounds so they can access medical education because that means everything to our patients.
What else are you worried about?
I am deeply concerned about the precedent this case would set. A lot of the conversations I’ve seen are about what this means for our laws. But I am very concerned about the socio-political climate that this will create. I fear this decision will fuel hatred and racism against black people and students and create an unsafe environment for minorities in the US. It will undo much of the progress made in our fight for justice and health equity.
What can be done?
This is an opportunity for us to ensure that traditionally black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have the support they need to continue producing black physicians in the country. For example, I am excited to see that Charles Drew University, the first HBCU medical school on the West Coast, has just taken on their first medical students.
We’ve focused on institutions like Harvard for a very long time. How about researching institutions that have been training black doctors for decades, but are largely unrecognized and supported. We need to understand that the majority of black doctors will be trained in HBCUs. I have great friends who went to those schools; they’ve had great experiences and I’m proud of the doctors they’re becoming.