To The Center

Since the Supreme Court decision in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger, public colleges and universities have been allowed to take race into account when making admissions decisions.

This Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case regarding these controversial admissions procedures, leading the public to believe that the court may be aiming to do away with racial preferences in education altogether. The new case, Fisher v. University of Texas, was brought about by Abigail Fisher, a white student who claimed she was denied admission to the University of Texas because of her race.

According to the New York Times, if the Supreme Court decides to forbid the use of race in admissions at universities, minority students will be even more overlooked. The current system allows for diversity on campuses, but new laws would reduce the number of African-American and Latino students at colleges and graduate schools, while allowing more Asian-American and white students entrance  instead.

Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, is very worried about this particular outcome occurring. “It threatens to undo several decades of effort within higher education to build a more integrated and just and educationally enriched environment,” he said.

As reported by the Washington Post, Edward Blum, director of the Project on Fair Representation, feels the complete opposite. “[This case] presents the court with an opportunity to clarify the boundaries of race preferences in higher education or even reconsider whether race should be permitted at all under the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection,” he said. It could actually turn out to be an even bigger step toward equality than the previous decision.

The case is scheduled to be heard sometime in October, when the court’s new term begins.