The use of race in college admissions is still in limbo, after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday to send Fisher v. University of Texas back to a lower court for another look.
The narrow ruling means Abigail Fisher’s claim — that she was denied admission to the University in 2008 to open up a spot for a less qualified minority student — will remain a contentious topic for college admissions offices nationwide.
The 7-1 decision saw only one justice — Ruth Bader Ginsburg — dissent. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case, because she had been involved in one of the lower court’s decisions as Solicitor General.
The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, states that the lower court had not applied strict scrutiny to the University of Texas at Austin during its initial review of the case.
The lower court justices had assumed using race as a factor was necessary at the University and had not evaluated how the school’s admissions process works in practice, Kennedy wrote.
“The reviewing court must ultimately be satisfied that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity,” he wrote.
At stake with the Fisher case is the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision, which upheld the use of race as one factor that could help universities increase minority enrollment.
About one-third of UNC-CH’s undergraduate student body last year was made up of minority students. The University’s current admissions policy does allow race to be considered when looking to achieve diversity in each incoming class.
