Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 10 minutes ago
The Supreme Court's landmark decision to ban race-based preferences in college admissions has unleashed a national reckoning across higher education, K–12 schools, and corporate America. Are institutions complying with the ruling or rebranding and evading it? Will class-based preferences take the place of racial ones? Is this the beginning of a new era of colorblind public policy or merely a temporary pause in identity-based politics?
Please join the Manhattan Institute for a timely and thoughtful conference on the origin, status, and permanence of affirmative action, the backlash against DEI initiatives, and the path toward genuine equality in education and beyond.
Panel I: The Colorblind Ideal and the Campus Response
Robert VerBruggen, Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Andre Archie, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University
Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University
Wai Wah Chin, Founding President, Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York
Ilya Shapiro, Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
Panel II: Class vs. Race-Based Preferences and the K–12 Frontline
Jason Riley, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Maimon Schwarzschild, Professor of Law, University of San Diego
Richard Kahlenberg, Director of the American Identity Project, Progressive Policy Institute
Wilfred Reilly, Author and Associate Professor of Political Science, Kentucky State University
Keynote Interview:
Edward Blum, President, Students for Fair Admissions
Tunku Varadarajan, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
The Supreme Court's landmark decision to ban race-based preferences in college admissions has unleashed a national reckoning across higher education, K–12 schools, and corporate America. Are institutions complying with the ruling or rebranding and evading it? Will class-based preferences take the place of racial ones? Is this the beginning of a new era of colorblind public policy or merely a temporary pause in identity-based politics?
Please join the Manhattan Institute for a timely and thoughtful conference on the origin, status, and permanence of affirmative action, the backlash against DEI initiatives, and the path toward genuine equality in education and beyond.
Panel I: The Colorblind Ideal and the Campus Response
Robert VerBruggen, Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Andre Archie, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University
Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University
Wai Wah Chin, Founding President, Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York
Ilya Shapiro, Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
Panel II: Class vs. Race-Based Preferences and the K–12 Frontline
Jason Riley, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Maimon Schwarzschild, Professor of Law, University of San Diego
Richard Kahlenberg, Director of the American Identity Project, Progressive Policy Institute
Wilfred Reilly, Author and Associate Professor of Political Science, Kentucky State University
Keynote Interview:
Edward Blum, President, Students for Fair Admissions
Tunku Varadarajan, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
