© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decisions

A photo of a group of people holding signs in support of affirmative action near the Supreme Court building
Anna Moneymaker
/
Getty Images
Supporters of affirmative action protest near the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill on June 29, 2023 in Washington, DC.

On June 29th, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer use race as a factor in admissions with the exception of military academies. The decisions came in 2 separate affirmative action cases, one against Harvard College and the other against the University of North Carolina. This hour, we discuss the impact of those decisions.

Jin Hee Lee, who, as part of the Legal Defense Fund, led the representation of 25 Harvard student and alumni groups in the Harvard case, offers her take on what the decisions mean. We'll also learn about the impact on community college from Dr. John Maduko, President of Connecticut State Community College. And, finally, we talk to U.S. Secretary of Education and former Connecticut elementary school student and teacher Dr. Miguel Cardona about how the Biden Administration plans to make college classrooms more diverse in the wake of the decisions.

GUESTS:

  • Jin Hee Lee: Director of Strategic Initiatives at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). She also oversees LDF’s Pro Truth Initiative, and led LDF’s representation of 25 Harvard student and alumni groups in the Harvard affirmative action case
  • Dr. John Maduko: President of Connecticut State Community College
  • Dr. Miguel Cardona: United States Secretary of Education; former student, teacher and administrator in Connecticut schools; former Commissioner for the Connecticut State Department of Education

Special thanks to our interns Carol Chen and Stacey Addo, who helped produce this episode.

Special thanks to Priya Sagar, Celeste Petrowsky and Wena Teng.

Disrupted is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in Connecticut and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.
Wayne Edwards is a freelance producer at Connecticut Public contributing to multi-platform productions, including ‘Disrupted’, ‘Where Art Thou?’, and ‘Cutline in the Community’.

Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.
Meg Dalton is the director of audio storytelling and talk shows for Connecticut Public where she oversees the station’s talk shows and podcasts, including the limited series 'In Absentia'.
Catie Talarski is Senior Director of Storytelling and Radio Programming at Connecticut Public.

Funding provided by:
The Connecticut Office of Film, Television and Digital Media