The first time that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on whether colleges could consider a prospective student’s race in the admissions process was 62 years ago, in a case against the University of Texas at Austin. This fall the court is taking up the issue again and again the defendant is UT. But the difference in the two cases shows how much has changed in the long debate over whether race can be a factor in college admissions.
In 1950 the plaintiff was Heman Marion Sweatt, whom UT refused to admit to its law school even though it conceded that he was qualified, “save and except for the fact that he is a Negro.” The Supreme Court ruled that UT had to accept Sweatt. This time, the plaintiff is another student who says that she was denied admission to UT’s undergraduate school because of her race. Abigail Fisher, who is white, maintains that the university admitted other students with lower academic records because they were minorities. At press time the justices were scheduled to hear oral arguments in Fisher’s suit in October, with a decision expected next year.
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