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29th November 2015, 03:26 PM
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-affirmative-action-20151125-story.html
University of Texas officials are struggling to explain a policy that gives an extra edge to Latino and African American students
Race-based admission policies have long drawn scrutiny from the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in the case Dec. 9.
For about 80% of its admissions, the university currently operates under a race-neutral state law that awards admission to students who graduate in the top 7% of their high school class. (In an earlier version, it was the top 10%.) The law has resulted in an influx of minority students to Austin, mainly from schools in low-income areas in the Rio Grande Valley and in the center cities of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
But citing its interest in the “educational benefits of diversity,” the university says it also needs to supplement that policy with a race-based one to admit promising minority students who are not in the top 7% of their class, including “the African American or Hispanic child of successful professionals in Dallas.”
The university’s argument is complicated by the growing number of minority students earning admission based solely on their grades. In 2008, when Fisher applied, about one-fourth of the incoming students were Latino or black. Last year, 35% of the freshmen were “underrepresented minorities.” While this is the kind of “race-neutral” policy Kennedy has lauded, the university’s lawyers say it relies on the “well-known fact that the Texas school system remains largely segregated.”
About 75% to 80% of the freshmen are admitted based on their grades. But to fill the remaining spots, the university says it needs to consider race to admit promising minority students from competitive, integrated high schools who may fall outside the top 7%.
Diversity does not "depend on skin color alone" and cannot be "measured by counting students of color on campus," its lawyers argue.
Minority students from top-performing schools have "different backgrounds and perspectives [and] they help ensure that UT's admissions policy does not reinforce stereotypes that Hispanics come from 'the valley' and African Americans come from the 'inner city,'" they said.
Many of the nation's top state universities joined in support of Texas. University of California lawyers filed a brief arguing for "qualitative diversity" on campus. They say "race neutral" admissions policies like the one in Texas will not work in states like California, and they may prevent universities from admitting even more qualified minorities.
"If one is looking for a lively discussion from students with the greatest possible variety of backgrounds, then including a poor white student from a trailer park might add more diversity than a wealthy African American graduate of a prep school," he argued in a friend-of-the-court brief.
Civil rights groups are backing the university. “While the top 10% plan did help UT achieve some measure of diversity, based in no small part on residential segregation in Texas, it was not sufficient to achieve the diverse student body the university sought,” said Rachel Kleinman, a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The case comes before the justices in a year that has seen "poignant reminders" of the importance of race and "its continuing relevance in America today," the university said. In August, students at Austin led the effort to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis from a campus mall.
University of Texas officials are struggling to explain a policy that gives an extra edge to Latino and African American students
Race-based admission policies have long drawn scrutiny from the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in the case Dec. 9.
For about 80% of its admissions, the university currently operates under a race-neutral state law that awards admission to students who graduate in the top 7% of their high school class. (In an earlier version, it was the top 10%.) The law has resulted in an influx of minority students to Austin, mainly from schools in low-income areas in the Rio Grande Valley and in the center cities of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
But citing its interest in the “educational benefits of diversity,” the university says it also needs to supplement that policy with a race-based one to admit promising minority students who are not in the top 7% of their class, including “the African American or Hispanic child of successful professionals in Dallas.”
The university’s argument is complicated by the growing number of minority students earning admission based solely on their grades. In 2008, when Fisher applied, about one-fourth of the incoming students were Latino or black. Last year, 35% of the freshmen were “underrepresented minorities.” While this is the kind of “race-neutral” policy Kennedy has lauded, the university’s lawyers say it relies on the “well-known fact that the Texas school system remains largely segregated.”
About 75% to 80% of the freshmen are admitted based on their grades. But to fill the remaining spots, the university says it needs to consider race to admit promising minority students from competitive, integrated high schools who may fall outside the top 7%.
Diversity does not "depend on skin color alone" and cannot be "measured by counting students of color on campus," its lawyers argue.
Minority students from top-performing schools have "different backgrounds and perspectives [and] they help ensure that UT's admissions policy does not reinforce stereotypes that Hispanics come from 'the valley' and African Americans come from the 'inner city,'" they said.
Many of the nation's top state universities joined in support of Texas. University of California lawyers filed a brief arguing for "qualitative diversity" on campus. They say "race neutral" admissions policies like the one in Texas will not work in states like California, and they may prevent universities from admitting even more qualified minorities.
"If one is looking for a lively discussion from students with the greatest possible variety of backgrounds, then including a poor white student from a trailer park might add more diversity than a wealthy African American graduate of a prep school," he argued in a friend-of-the-court brief.
Civil rights groups are backing the university. “While the top 10% plan did help UT achieve some measure of diversity, based in no small part on residential segregation in Texas, it was not sufficient to achieve the diverse student body the university sought,” said Rachel Kleinman, a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The case comes before the justices in a year that has seen "poignant reminders" of the importance of race and "its continuing relevance in America today," the university said. In August, students at Austin led the effort to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis from a campus mall.