The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling curtailing affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina is shocking to the legal industry and diversity professionals everywhere, whose mission is to bridge the gap of historical inequities by fostering diverse learning environments.

Though this decision challenges the progress we’ve made as an organization and industry, it doesn’t deter us from our commitment to advocate in collaborative ways for equitable opportunities, challenge biases in ways that are not divisive and create an inclusive profession.

To be sure, our organization will never be opposed to improving diversity efforts. But the decision serves only to underscore the critical importance of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within America’s law firms.

Law firm pipeline programs are now more important than ever to replace the positive impacts of affirmative action. And there are many other ways that law firm diversity professionals can still make a difference for tomorrow’s leaders.

While the consideration of race itself has been deemed unconstitutional by this particular panel of justices for the time being, the court does say this: “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.”

As long as applicants discuss how race impacted them, the door is open for colleges and universities to consider that in their admissions process. This will require them to add a question asking the applicant to discuss how their race affected their lives, including, “challenges bested, skills built or lessons learned.”