The Supreme Court’s ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin provides little guidance for admissions officers looking to reassess their own affirmative action policies.
The Supreme Court issued a 7-1 decision on Monday, June 24 directing the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to reexamine the case, saying it applied the incorrect standard of review and therefore the case shouldn’t have even reached a higher court. It did not, however, comment on the merits of UT Austin’s admissions policy.
“It left a number of us sort of shaking our heads a little bit about what we actually now know and what guidance we were given,” says Michael Reilly, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
In 2008, Abigail Fisher, who is white, was denied undergraduate admission into the University of Texas at Austin, and filed a lawsuit alleging that the school had discriminated against her on the basis of her race. Many commentators believe that Fisher wouldn't have been accepted to the school anyway, regardless of her reverse discrimination claim. She was not in the top 10 percent of her high school class, which is a guarantee of admittance in Texas, regardless of race, under Texas House Bill 588. Eighty-one percent of the UT Austin freshman class of 2008 were admitted under this bill.
The decision reiterates the need for courts to apply strict scrutiny for race-based actions, says Reilly. Strict scrutiny is the most stringent standard of judicial review used by U.S. courts—the defendant must establish there is no other reasonable alternative for the means being used to carry out its objective.
0 comments:
Post a Comment