On Oct. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that could mean new challenges for universities seeking to maintain or increase enrollment of minority students. In Fisher v. University of Texas, Abigail Fisher, a white applicant whom the University of Texas (UT) rejected from its undergraduate program in 2008, claims that the university’s limited consideration of race in its admission process violated her rights to equal protection.
At UT, race plays a small role in the admission decisions of a few applicants. Sixty to 80 percent of freshmen are admitted automatically for being in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, and the remainder are admitted under a more traditional assessment of academic qualifications and personal qualities. Most of those admitted in the second-tier process are admitted on the basis of academics alone. A small number will have a “personal achievement index” (PAI) considered. PAI reflects holistic scores on two essays and a “personal achievement score,” which takes into account leadership qualities, awards and honors, work experience, extracurricular activities, community service and “special circumstances.” Special circumstances include socioeconomic status, family circumstances, standardized test score compared to the average of the applicant’s high school and, finally, race. Fisher admits that in 2008, race could only have made a difference for 33 students, or 0.5 percent of the freshman class.
