In upholding an affirmative action program at the University of Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court provided some reassurance to the minority of the nation’s colleges that continue to consider an applicant’s race in admissions.
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Texas resident Abigail Fisher sued the University of Texas in 2008 after she wasn’t admitted to its freshman class. Fisher did not graduate in her high school’s top 10 percent, and argued that the method the university uses to round out its new admissions put her and other white students at a disadvantage compared with their peers of other races.
In the university’s defense, the school accepts students who are top 10% of their high school graduating class, regardless of race.
The Texas case was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white woman who was denied entry to the state’s flagship university. As the University of Texas and its supporters successfully argued to the Court, the college education experience allows students from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to live and work together in a variety of settings.
It’s the second time since 2013 that the court has heard this case. In his opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the ruling “does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement”.
In a pair of cases challenging University of MI admission policies, court majorities ruled in 2003 that admissions officers can look at race but only as one of several factors determining an individual’s acceptance or rejection and only if no viable alternatives for creating racially diverse classes exist.
“Something unusual has happened since our prior decision in this case”, Alito said.
“The court has reaffirmed the Grutter decision that said diversity is a compelling governmental interest, and seemingly lowered the bar for universities seeking to justify race based affirmative action”, Winkler explained. The court has been ruling on similar cases for decades, Satjia says. Last year, the university moved a statute of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States defeated in the American Civil War, from campus in response to protests over the public display of symbols of the pro-slavery Confederacy.
Separate legal challenges have been filed to affirmative action plans at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University. The 33-page brief, which the AACU, AAU, and AASCU all signed in support, advanced the argument that “a diverse student body is essential to the educational objectives of colleges and universities”.
Breeze Richardson, director of communications for the Kansas Board of Regents, which governs Kansas’ six state universities, said it does not have a cross-university admission policy that includes race as a factor.
“This is a terrific comfort for higher education and the country”, said Peter McDonough, general counsel for the American Council on Education, a group representing college and university presidents.
“As this court has said, enrolling a diverse student body ‘promotes cross-racial understanding, helps to break down racial stereotypes, and enables students to better understand persons of different races, ‘” Kennedy wrote, quoting a decision in an earlier case.
Alito said he thought the decision was an example of “affirmative action gone berserk”.
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“Today’s decision seems to give universities more leeway to simply use race as a way to get racial diversity and ignore economically disadvantaged students”, he said.
