Although conservative Justice Samuel Alito excoriated the ruling in a 50-page dissent, the decision seemed to placate school officials such as Michael Drake, president of Ohio State University who said “academic excellence is not possible without a diverse and inclusive community.”
“For four decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that diversity is a vital part of the higher education experience and a legitimate pursuit for colleges and universities,” Drake said in a statement. “While we will take time to carefully analyze the ruling, we are pleased that today’s opinion reaffirms this principle.”
Only seven justices were involved in the ruling because of the death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Elena Kagan’s recused herself because as as solicitor general of the United States in the Obama administration she was involved in the case.
Kennedy wrote that while universities could not constitutionally design an admission system that included fixed quotas, they could craft an approach that takes race into account in a more limited fashion.
“Considerable deference is owed to a university in defining these intangible characteristics, like student body diversity, that are central to its identity and education mission,” Kennedy wrote.
“But still it remains an enduring challenge to our nation’s education system to reconcile the pursuit of diversity with the constitutional promise of equal treatment and dignity,” Kennedy wrote.
The University of Texas was able to win the court’s approval in part because under state law 75 percent of its new students are admitted if they rank in the 10 top percent of their class at a Texas high school.
But the university also admits about 25 percent of its students through a separate standard that includes factors such as SAT scores, community service, socioeconomic status – and race.
Kennedy wrote that “a system that selected every student through class rank alone would exclude the star athlete or musician whose grades suffered because of daily practices and training.”
“It would exclude a talented young biologist who struggled to main¬tain above-average grades in humanities classes,” Kennedy wrote. “And it would exclude a student whose freshman-year grades were poor because of a family crisis but who got herself back on track in her last three years of school, only to find herself just outside of the top decile of her class.”
Joining Kennedy to form the majority were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer. Alito, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.
At the center of the case stands Abigail Fisher, a white woman, who claims that in 2008 the University of Texas denied her admission based on her race. Fisher had not graduated in the top 10 percent of her class, so school officials evaluated her application based on a broader series of factors, including race.
It was the second time that the Supreme Court heard the case, after sending it back to lower courts for reconsideration in 2013.
(Mary C. Edwards of the Columbus Dispatch contributed to this story.)
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