The United States Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a University of Texas policy that uses race as a factor for admissions, ending a legal battle over how colleges and universities decide which students will attend their institutions.
In a 4-3 vote, the justices held that, in certain instances with the goal of promoting a diverse student body, race can be a factor in who's admitted to a college and who isn't.
The case was brought by Abigail Fisher, who was a high school senior at the time her lawsuit was filed in 2008.
It revolved around the policy of UT Austin to automatically accepted students in the top 10 percent of their class. Fisher didn't make the cut and her application underwent a standard review that looked at, among other factors, her race. Fisher, who is white, did not get into the school. She claimed in her lawsuit that lesser qualified students were admitted over her because they belonged to a minority group.
"The Court’s affirmance of the University’s admissions policy today does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. "It is the University’s ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admissions policies."
Here’s a look at affirmative action in the United States:
1. Eight states ban the use of race in admissions: Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Arizona, Nebraska, Washington, California, Florida and Michigan. (Texas had a ban but the ban was dropped in 2003).
2. Those eight states educate 29 percent of all U.S. high school students, according to The Century Foundation.
3, About 80 percent of private universities use affirmative action, according to a Roll Call report.
4. A Stanford University study showed white students are up to three times more likely than black students to be accepted in schools considered the most difficult to get into.
5. The National Asian and Pacific American Legal Consortium say that white men make up 48 percent of the college-educated workforce.
6. A report called "Admissions and Public Higher Education in California, Texas and Florida: The Post-Affirmative Action Era" showed that Asian-American students particularly benefited from the California's Proposition 209, which banned the state's colleges from using affirmative action for admissions. Asian-Americans also made gains in admissions in the University of Texas and University of Florida systems. Texas reversed its ban on affirmative action in 2003.
7. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order requiring defense contractors to pledge nondiscrimination in employment in government-funded projects. Two years later, Roosevelt extended coverage of the executive order to all federal contractors and subcontractors.
8. Students from families that are considered low-income make up 3 percent of the student population at the most selective colleges and universities, according to a study from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
9. Some 60 percent of students in American colleges and universities are white. Fifteen percent are black, 15 percent are Hispanic, 6 percent are Asian/Pacific Islander and 0.9 percent are American Indian/Alaska native, according to 2012 statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Here's a video that explains affirmative action.
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