President Turner released a statement Thursday afternoon in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions.

The court’s ruling struck down affirmative action programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard College. The 6-3 vote in the UNC case and the 6-2 vote in the Harvard case will end affirmative action in the college admissions process at institutions across the country.

Affirmative action has long been a contentious topic amongst conservative and liberal activists.

The court’s ruling today essentially overturns their decision in the 2003 landmark case Grutter v. Bollinger, in which they said that academic institutions can take race into account in admissions in order to promote student diversity. The 2003 case also overturned decades of precedent, as the court had previously ruled, on multiple occasions, that decisions based on race should be made in a limited capacity.

President Biden spoke from the White House shortly after the decision was announced, saying “the court walked away from decades of precedent.”

President Turner’s statement reaffirmed the university’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive campus. SMU’s focus now is how the ruling will impact their admissions moving forward. “We will determine how the specifics of the high court’s ruling will affect the consideration of race in our enrollment efforts,” the statement said.

Read President Turner’s full statement below.