Supreme Court re-evaluation of affirmative action unnecessary

The country seems to be headed in the direction of the Stone Age — the U.S. Supreme Court is unnecessarily reconsidering affirmative action for the first time since 1978.

Abigail Noel Fisher, a 22-year-old Caucasian student, was rejected for admission from the University of Texas in 2008. In Fisher vs. University of Texas, Fisher is suing because she believes that the school discriminated against her in favor of admitting less qualified African-American and Latino students.

This case is not a proper one with which to to abolish affirmative action, since universities typically admit students on a holistic basis, and Fisher’s scores did not indicate that she would undoubtedly be admitted into the university. Affirmative action was not the sole factor in her rejection and shouldn’t be blamed for it.

The decision in Fisher’s lawsuit would be much more clear-cut if her scores were slightly lower or significantly higher. Because she was placed into the pool of students for further evaluation, it is difficult to tell if Fisher possibly missed admission due to the priority given to minorities.

Under the university’s “top 10 percent” plan, students in the top 10 percent of their class at a Texas high school who apply are automatically admitted into the university. Eighty-one percent of the students admitted to the university in 2008 came in under this plan. Fisher was in the top 12 percent of her graduating class, and thus was put into the “standard” pool of applicants who were considered for admission on the basis of talent, leadership qualities, family circumstances and race.

In 2008, the 25th percentile of SAT scores for the University of Texas was 1,120 on a 1,600 point scale. Fisher scored a 1,180 and had a 3.59 weighted GPA. Fisher believed that she would have been admitted if minorities had not been given preferential treatment in the admissions process because her scores were above the mean.

Fisher can only win the case if the Supreme Court can find evidence that the 1978 decision regarding Regents of the University of California v. Bakke was violated by the University of Texas. According to the ruling, universities are allowed to use race as a factor in admissions decisions, but they are prohibited from using a quota system to admit a minimum number of different minorities per year. A quota system means that an admissions policy requires that a specified number or percentage of minority group members be hired or admitted.

People claim that in America, all citizens have the opportunity to achieve their dreams if they set their mind to it. However, people tend to forget how difficult it can truly be to rise up from one’s circumstances if a person is born into a broken family or a rough neighborhood, or if he or she can barely afford to purchase a standardized test prep book.

Students in Saratoga were born to parents who are hard working, educated individuals who are able to afford the mortgage in an area with one of the best high schools in the country. The majority of students in the U.S. live in much less economically advantaged areas with less funded public schools.

Studies have shown that African Americans and Latino Americans tend to earn significantly less than Caucasians and Asian Americans and are much more likely to be below the poverty line. 

We need to take into account the situational factors that minorities face when making admissions decisions in order to break the cycle of poverty and educational deficiencies. From the viewpoint of a college admissions officer, an African American student from a rough Chicago neighborhood whose grades and SAT scores are close to those of a wealthier Caucasian or Asian American student should be given admissions priority, simply because they have overcome economic challenges in addition to the circumstances of high school.

It may seem unfair to such students who live comfortably in idyllic neighborhoods and study at well-funded schools, but it is much more difficult to receive high scores while attending a poorly funded school while scraping up the funds to pay for school supplies and eventually college application fees.

Affirmative action by no means should be be restructured or abolished.