Penn State Unaffected by Affirmative Action Ruling

PennLive reports that Penn State doesn’t expect to be harmed by the Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision upholding the state’s ban on affirmative action in its public university admission policies — largely because Penn State doesn’t consider race or ethnicity in its admissions decisions.

Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said Tuesday that the university’s attorneys are reviewing the ruling, but added that, “Penn State does not use race or ethnicity as a consideration in its admissions decisions.”

Instead, officials say Penn State has been active in recruiting a diverse student population by having an active presence in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg through Community Recruitment Centers. In fall 2013, of the 98,000 students enrolled across Penn State’s physical campuses and its online World Campus, about 18.6 percent of students were non-white.

For comparison’s sake: 16.5 percent of the state’s population is non-white.