Equality in Higher Education
Does race have a place in University Admissions? KLRU gives context to one of the most-watched US Supreme Court cases of this term - Fisher v. Texas - through the lens of court decisions that came before it, and how they have impacted the use of race in admissions today.
Consider now two profile cases at the University of Texas:
In 1946, an African American man, Heman Marion Sweatt, believed he should be allowed to attend Law School in his home state of Texas - which prohibited integrated education at the time. He took his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in Sweatt v. Painter, challenging the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation and laying a foundation to end segregation at universities across the country - especially the South.
Over sixty years later, in 2008, Abigail Fisher said the same thing, but from a slightly different vantage point: She was white. She too argued that race should not play a factor in admissions policies – in this case, focusing on affirmative action policies designed to increase diversity on The University of Texas at Austin’s campus. Her case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 and now has the potential to end admissions policies that consider race at public universities across the country.
Both cases argue for fairness and equality in education. Both ask for race not to be considered as a factor for admission. So then - what should fairness in education look like today? Are there societal factors that cannot be ignored in the pursuit of equality at the individual level? If you haven't already, be sure to watch KLRU's Admissions on Trial: Seven Decades of Race and Higher Education, for background on how universities currently use race in the admissions process. Then we want to hear your thoughts below.
So, what do you think? What does equality in education look like today? We'd like to hear your thoughts below. Be honest. Be bold. Be you. However, we also ask that you be courteous and stick to the issues. No personal digs. We want everyone to feel comfortable participating. And if you go there, we won't be afraid to take your comment off here. That simple. Now, let's talk!
|Want More? Watch PBS NewsHour's 2012 coverage of Fisher v. Texas