Sotomayor, J., dissenting
recruit and admit students from different backgrounds based on all the other factors the Court’s opinion does not, and cannot, touch. Colleges and universities can continue to consider socioeconomic diversity and to recruit and enroll students who are first-generation college applicants or who speak multiple languages, for example. Those factors are not “interchangeable” with race. UNC, 567 F. Supp. 3d, at 643; see, e.g., 2 App. in No. 21–707, at 975–976 (Laura Ornelas, a UNC alumna, testifying that her Latina identity, socioeconomic status, and first-generation college status are all important but different “parts to getting a full picture” of who she is and how she “see[s] the world”). At SFFA’s own urging, those efforts remain constitutionally permissible. See Brief for Petitioner 81–86 (emphasizing “race-neutral” alternatives that Harvard and UNC should implement, such as those that focus on socioeconomic and geographic diversity, percentage plans, plans that increase community college transfers, and plans that develop partnerships with disadvantaged high schools); see also ante, at 51, 53, 55–56 (Thomas, J., concurring) (arguing universities can consider “[r]ace-neutral policies” similar to those adopted in States such as California and Michigan, and that universities can consider “status as a first-generation college applicant,” “financial means,” and “generational inheritance or otherwise”); ante, at 8 (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) (citing SFFA’s briefs and concluding that universities can use “race-neutral” means); ante, at 14, n. 4 (Gorsuch, J., concurring) (“recount[ing] what SFFA has argued every step of the way” as to “race-neutral tools”).
The Court today also does not adopt SFFA’s suggestion that college admissions should be a function of academic metrics alone. Using class rank or standardized test scores as the only admissions criteria would severely undermine multidimensional diversity in higher education. Such a system “would exclude the star athlete or musician whose grades suffered because of daily practices and training. It
