BUZZ
Resolution says it’s important for schools to ‘honor specific indigenous claims and commitments’
A school that gives admissions preference to students based on their Native Hawaiian race received support recently from the student government at Amherst College in Massachusetts.
The Association of Amherst Students passed a resolution last week that supports the Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy in the face of a federal lawsuit, The Amherst Student reports.
The results of the lawsuit will have “significant implications for how educational institutions can honor specific indigenous claims and commitments, directly relating to ongoing discussions about affirmative action and institutional responsibility within higher education and beyond,” the resolution states.
Students for Fair Admissions is suing the Hawaiian private school, which offers preschool through 12th grade programs.
Its lawsuit, filed in October, alleges Kamehameha’s admission practices amount to “blood-based discrimination.”
Kamaha’o Halemanu, an alumnus of Kamehameha Schools, now attends Amherst in Massachusetts. He introduced the resolution, according to the student newspaper:
In an email to The Student on Tuesday, he said that the school system was an invaluable resource to preserve Indigenous culture and equity, given the centuries-long oppression and systemic disenfranchisement Native Hawaiians have faced.
“It is because of [Pauahi’s] vision that I, a Native Hawaiian, can attend a school like Amherst College. It is because of her vision that I was able to learn the Hawaiian language, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, history, and culture,” Halemanu wrote.
He also questioned why SFFA, which is based in Virginia, was getting involved in an issue specific to Hawaii. “What I wish people understood is this: Kamehameha Schools is an indigenous institution fulfilling a Princess’s will to ensure that Hawaiians survive in our own homeland. And now that task is being questioned by an organization with no connection to Hawaiʻi, no knowledge of our history, and no regard for our future: The Students for Fair Admissions.”
The resolution also states that the student government believes it is important to use “its collective voice to advocate for justice” for the Kamehameha Schools and other causes.
Students for Fair Admissions successfully challenged similar race-based admissions practices at Harvard University in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices ruled in 2023 that the university’s practices amounted to racial discrimination in violation of the 14th Amendment.
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