BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — In the late 1960s, LeRoi Johnson and his classmates succeeded in efforts to diversify Canisius College. They helped bring 30 minority students to campus decades ago, which led to a more diverse future at the private Jesuit school, but Johnson considered Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action as a step backward.
"It’s almost as if the court went back to 1865," explained Johnson. "It’s terribly disturbing to me."
Canisius' President Steve Stoute, the college's first black president, called the ruling troubling but not surprising.
"Nothing will change for us," said Stoute. "This ruling will impact any number of institutions, but we will find ways to build a student body faculty and staff that is reflective of the world we live in."
Stoute said Canisius will no longer look at SAT and ACT test scores of incoming students. Studies have shown that the test results discriminate against low-income and minority college students.
"Nothing prevents institutions from asking applicants how their race impacted them in their lives," said Stoute. "We will continue to create a student body that will allow our students to live, work, study, and challenge people who are different than them because that’s what we know is critically important to preparing leaders for an ever-changing, diverse, multicultural, multinational society."
Johnson feels the ruling could lead some students to boycott schools that aren't making efforts to diversify campuses.
"I don’t think students want to go to a situation where their school is one of anything," said Johnson.
Johnson graduated from Canisius College in 1971 and graduated from Georgetown in 1974 with a law degree. Today, he has his own personal injury practice in Buffalo and is also an artist.
Johnson said he has always been an advocate, just like his brother, singer-songwriter Rick James. James once fought to get black musicians on MTV.
"We saw a need for change," said Johnson. "There were no real affirmative action programs at the time. We were there purely on academics, but we saw a need to change. It was a time of resolution."
Today more than 20% of private Jesuit college is made up of minority students, according to CollegeFactual.com.
