In June of 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the admissions decisions at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (and at Harvard) could not be "race conscious", even when race was but one of many factors that the University considered in deciding which of its many applicants to admit.
Shortly after, the UNC Board of Trustees passed a resolution explaining that "the University can only consider merit, qualifications and individual experiences outside of race during the admissions process".
Only 19% of students applying to UNC are admitted, so it's significant that also in June of 2023 and continuing throughout the next year, six white members of the UNC Board of Trustees communicated directly with senior administrators at the University on behalf of the admission of specific students. In hundreds of pages of texts acquired by local journalists, these members of the Board inquired about students' status on wait lists, advocated for admission, requested that a student on a wait list be given a second look, and asked for updates as waitlists began to clear.
The sole factor in whether an applicant enjoyed the advocacy of a white member of the Board was that someone in their world was of high enough status that a Board member took their calls and then acted on the applicant's behalf. There is no mention of any of these Board members telling those who called them to request their intervention for these students that "only merit and individual qualifications" can be considered in admissions, not social connections.
UNC admitted a lower percentage of Native, Black and Hispanic students for the incoming class for Autumn 2024 than it had in previous years.
None of the white Board members who used their power to advocate for individual students felt compelled to comment for the news story, beyond one saying that she followed "guidelines".
