A University student is taking an affirmative action case to the U.S. Supreme Court after she was rejected admission to the University of Texas, where her race was a contributing factor in the decision.
Finance senior Abigail Fisher was not among the top 10 percent of her Texas high school class, dropping her into a pool of UT applicants where race is considered along with test scores, work experience and community service, according to The Washington Post. Had she been in the top 10 percent, race would not have been a factor.
The Washington Post reported that Bert Rein, Fisher’s attorney, argued race considerations are unnecessary because UT’s color-blind top-10-percent policy garners significantly larger percentages of minority students than in the 2003 Grutter vs. Bollinger case, which allowed for racial considerations in the University of Michigan Law School’s admissions process.
“This case presents the Court with an opportunity to clarify the boundaries of race preferences in higher education or even reconsider whether race should be permitted at all under the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection,” Edward Blum, the director of the Project on Fair Representation, told The Associated Press.
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]