The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a 6-3 decision on Thursday which will severely restrict the use of race-conscious affirmative action policies similar to admission practices used for decades by some Pennsylvania colleges and universities to increase diversity on their campuses.

Before the decision, Pennsylvania was one of 41 states that allowed colleges and universities to consider race in admissions, combined with other factors.

“I think the decision is disappointing but it’s not a huge surprise,” Rakin “Rock” Hall, Arcadia University’s Vice President for Enrollment Management, said. “Affirmative action has been chipped at repeatedly over the decades. I think the Supreme Court’s majority ruling made the wrong call. For those of us in this space, we’ll have to lean more heavily on other means. The sky isn’t falling.”

Hall said the decision leaves Arcadia’s recruitment practices unaffected going forward.

“We really didn’t use affirmative action at all. This more applies to schools like Harvard, NYU, and UPenn where an overwhelming majority qualify academically. The question has been, ‘How do we create enough space for everyone?'” he said. “It’s never been a magic bullet and I think it has informed higher education’s decisions in a positive way over the years.”

According to ABC News, the court said the practices violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.

WGAL.com has published an ongoing list of south-central Pennsylvania schools who are reacting to the decision.

In May, The Philadelphia Tribune published an article featuring six Pennsylvania schools speaking in favor of affirmative action, including the University of Pennsylvania and the recently closed Cabrini University.

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