The Supreme Court decision on affirmative action is yet another reminder that emulating Harvard is and always has been a fool’s errand, John R. Thelin and Richard W. Trollinger write. The June 29 Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action may not have been good news for Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It did, however, provide a wake-up call to higher education leaders that they could not afford to rely primarily on the examples set by a small circle of academically prestigious colleges and universities. In other words, selective admissions was on trial.