Abigail Fisher is a white student who graduated outside the top 10 percent of her high school class whom was denied entry into UT-Austin in 2008. She claimed that students with lower test scores and less extracurricular involvement were admitted to UT-Austin over her because of their race, and therefore proceeded to sue the university. In her argument, she states that UT-Austin's admissions policy violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protecting Clause and federal civil rights statutes because it considers a persons race during the process of accepting applications. In the university's defense, they claim that this is all part of creating a university with "compelling interest in achieving a diverse student body," in which we all see as complete B.S.
Even though a more diverse student body would make the overall university sound less racial, it can also be seen as being more racial then what they are trying to sweep away from. It is a never-ending circle of hopeless hope as anyone tries to venture down the steep hole that is racism. Racism has been a controversial topic for many decades now and will keep going for as long as we stay segregated. Turning to the government and asking for help will only "fuel the fire" and create more hate. So the best thing to do now would be to avoid any type of segregation that has anything to do with race. Base admission rates predominantly on class rank/GPA and avoid compelling interests ideas that have nothing to do with anything.
Jimmy Pham argues that race should have nothing to do with admissions at UT in his blog post "Race-Based Admissions". Pham states that UT has been accepting students based on race, though UT states that though they do consider race it is not a major part in the decision making process and they consider race in order to create a more diverse student body.
ReplyDeletePham writes this blog toward people who are interested in improving the admission methods of universities. He assumes that the reader knows that race is taken into consideration when looking at applications. It is also assumes that people understand the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment.
Pham points out a current court case where a white student (Abigail Fisher) sued UT because she had been denied entry even though she had better academics and more extracurricular involvement than other students who had been accepted and also happen to be a different race. This court case strengthens Pham's argument, he isn't the only person who feels that race shouldn't be an issue when accepting students. It also adds legitimacy to his argument, there has to be evidence in order to place a law suit. The evidence has been summed up and because of the suit the details do not need to be stated. Pham then addresses the universities defense in this case. UT states that they use race in their admissions in order to keep a diverse student body. While this may seem like a good idea Pham points out that this actually makes the university more racial because they are using race to accept or deny admissions. Pham sums up his argument stating that race shouldn't be considered at all, only a person's merits should be taken into consideration when deciding whether that student should be accepted or not.
I have felt that race shouldn't be considered for a long time, I also feel that it shouldn't even be asked on applications. I have always questioned what my race has to do with my work ethic and credentials. Though I have always questioned this I haven't heard of any court cases I also haven't discussed this issue with any one else so it is very nice to hear another person's opinion, especially since we agree. I am very interested to see how this case turns out and hope that this will keep race from being a part of any decision making whether it be in school admissions or job applications.