By: Branden Largent
As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court sending the affirmative action case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin back to the lower courts Monday, the University of Minnesota will reevaluate its own admissions policies.
The 7-1 decision limited the use of race-based college admissions and ordered the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to re-examine the case using the highest possible level of scrutiny on admissions programs that utilize racial categories.
In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, native Texan Abigail Fisher claimed she was denied admission to the university in 2008 because she is white. She claimed the University’s policy of considering race in admissions violated the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
The ruling said that courts must decide that “no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.”
Although the decision doesn’t affect current affirmative action policies, the University of Minnesota’s Office of the General Counsel will work with administrators and the University’s Office of Admissions to ensure its policies are in line with current standards, said William Donohue, interim General Counsel.
University officials will make sure its admissions policies pass strict scrutiny, meaning that policies are narrowly tailored to achieve a diverse student body, Donohue said.
After the review is complete, the OGC will communicate its key findings with administrators whose work could be directly affected by the Supreme Court decision, University President Eric Kaler said in a statement.
The University uses race, ethnicity or other factors to increase diversity in the student body through its “holistic review” admissions process, said Rachel Hernandez, director of admissions.
This process considers both primary and secondary factors in admissions decisions. Primary factors include high school GPA and standardized test scores, while secondary factors include less measurable criteria, like military service, volunteer work, race and gender.
“No single factor in our admissions decision review is a deciding factor,” Hernandez said, adding that academic factors receive the highest emphasis.
When Fisher applied to the University of Texas at Austin, the school automatically accepted Texas high school students who ranked in the top 10 percent of their class. For those who didn’t make that cut-off, other factors — including race — were considered in the admissions process.
The University of Texas at Austin currently accepts Texas students from the top 8 percent of their graduating high school classes automatically.
Because the lower court didn’t apply the correct standard of strict scrutiny, its decision in favor of the university was “incorrect,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the court’s opinion.
When reviewing the case again, the appeals court must use the level of scrutiny employed in the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s use of affirmative action in admissions.
“[The decision] provides stability to the legal analysis of affirmative action,” Donohue said. “In that way it’s a good thing.”