On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, a case that deals with whether university admissions policies should be completely race-blind.
In the original case, Abigail Fischer charged that she was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin because the University gave preferential treatment to minority students (Ms. Fischer is white). The university argues, in part, that Ms. Fischer does not have standing to sue, because she did not meet the admission criteria for that particular class and would not have been admitted anyway.
During oral arguments, lawyers for the university explain that there are two tiers of admission to the university. Admission is guaranteed to all Texas high school graduates who meet certain criteria, and then remaining seats are open to out-of-state and international students and those from Texas who did not make the cut-off for the first group. For the second tier, the university takes into account dozens of criteria, of which race is one, when making a decision.
The university argues that factoring in race is necessary to promote a diverse student body, which is one of its core principles.