John Bogna
Last year, the University of Texas at Austin won an affirmative action case, after which institutional leaders announced the school would continue its practice of considering race – among other elements – as a factor in their application evaluations.
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On Tuesday, however, President Trump announced the Department of Justice is planning to investigate and possibly even sue universities using an affirmative-action based admissions process.
Specifically, the DOJ is targeting schools discriminating against white or asian applicants.
According to the Texas Tribune, Tuesday’s decision encouraged the same plaintiff who filed the aforementioned affirmative action case last year to file a new one in state court this June.
While the majority of private universities don’t utilize an affirmative action policy, with both private and public institutions heavily relying solely on Texas’ other controversial admissions “top 10 percent rule,” UT is the only public university in Texas still considering the race of prospective freshman.
Despite the threat of legal action, former Assistant Attorney General Mishell Kneeland said UT appears to be pretty well protected against litigation, given the history of favorable Supreme Court rulings on its admissions policies and decisions.
