Discussion: Justices Look Anew At Affirmative Action In Texas

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Discussion for article #243468

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You’d think Peppermint Patty could have won an athletic scholarship.

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Texas has contended that Fisher’s argument that race is to blame for her rejection is misguided. White students with lower scores than hers also were admitted, while many more minority students with higher scores than Fisher were not offered admission.

If the numbers for this assertion substantiate the state’s case-- this appears Quixote-esque.
In recalling the earlier case-- it got some press in-state here in Texas-- but I didn’t get a sense of much more than sour grapes from the young lady. Seems she can’t accept the fact that she didn’t fit the university’s criteria at that moment.

jw1

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She was obviously discriminated against – not because she’s white, but because she’s “ginger.”

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Here is a true conservative-in-training.

Higher education, conservatives say, should be provided only to those identified as the high achievers in society, usually the off-spring of the social elite. Grades determine achievement, and grading policy is determined by the government – which is populated with gerrymandered representatives, ironically.

One needs look no further than a Texas school book to understand that government is the solution.

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Considering that Whitey von Whitenburg dropped her attempt to enroll in Texas and went somewhere else, where’s the injury now?

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I don’t see anything less racist about admitting a student because their skin is dark than admitting a student because their skin is light. The purpose of college admission should be to predict a student’s likelihood of success in the college. Part of that would absolutely be adjustments for less than stellar high school performance due to poverty or a lousy high school, particularly if the college collected statistics to show their method of adjustment is valid. But if two students of similar affluence went to the same high school with the same teachers they should be judged by the same standard.

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The Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom knows that race should only matter when it comes to police shootings, red-lining, and voter suppression. Rules that actually provide for a level playing field shall not stand.

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…and what will the uptight-whites do when the ‘diverse’ are being accepted on their own merits… ?

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It was based on merit. She wasn’t in the top 10%.

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Lets make a prediction. Yes, SCOTUS shoots down Texas and axes the program. I’d bet on that. But, in time, the racial breakdown of who and who does not get into State Universities will change. It will get whiter.

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There are other avenues to get into UT and they do consider race. She didn’t get in via those either so here comes the suit. Remember she was solicited as a plaintiff by a man with a hatred of Affirmative Action. She did not come to this point on her own volition. She had a guaranteed option , the one you mention, that was all about merit. And its not that hard to make the top 10 %. She’s really just a tool in this case. Like the 4 dupes in the last ACA case. The folks that want these rulings know the Court is stacked in their favor…for now. So they find these poor schmucks to get “standing” in front of the Court. This girl will suffer this and be perceived as a racist for the rest of her life.

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I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Consider the current breakdown according to the article:
The university’s current freshman class is 22 percent Hispanic and 4.5 percent African-American. White students make up less than half the school’s freshmen.

I’m guessing Native Americans aren’t a big proportion, which means Asians are currently about 25% or more. Given the tendency of white people in Texas to be religious anti-intellectuals, which group do you think will benefit most from completely race-blind admissions?

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Interesting to see the states without affirmative action in High Education finding other ways to increase diversity. Maybe they found a better way and old style-affirmative action isn’t as necessary because of other methods.

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Fisher had a few chances of getting into UT. 1) Being in the top 10% of her class, 2) Leadership, talent, race, and family circumstances, and 3) Attending a Community College, getting high grades and transferring in as a Sophomore (almost a guaranteed entry). She failed on the first two, and opted out of the third option, choosing to go to LSU.

Like Jennifer Gratz, at Michigan, she thought she had earned a spot in a class, and ended up joining as a plaintiff in a lawsuit claiming that she was a victim of Affirmative Action. The first case proved that she wasn’t a victim who lost her spot to a less-qualified minority.

I don’t understand why this case went forward after she failed to prove someone less qualified was admitted solely based on race. These types of suits always hinge on the assumption that White applicants have merit beyond grades, and underrepresented minority kids have no merit beyond race, and if we just eliminate race as a factor, the White kids win. It’s a very short-sighted view.

Exactly! LSU is not a second-rate school. She got into her second choice. There was no guarantee she would get into her first choice (UT), so to blame not getting in on Affirmative Action is silly. If she’s really concerned about fairness, her and Gratz should have gone after the points awarded to Legacies, but that wouldn’t have helped the group bringing the lawsuits.

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“It should be based on merit and it shouldn’t be based on any external factors,” Fisher said in a video Blum posted on the website for his Project on Fair Representation."

someone should have told ms. Fisher that external factors can directly impact merit. no doubt they did, she just doesn’t want to hear it. She’s getting the legal work for free, so what does she care?