April 8, 2008, 6:47AM White teen sues UT over admissions policy Sugar Land student, in top of class, challenges racial preferences By JEANNIE KEVER Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle An 18-year-old Sugar Land student sued the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, challenging the school's use of racial preferences in its admissions policy. Abigail Noel Fisher, a senior at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, was named in the lawsuit filed on her behalf by the Project on Fair Representation. Project director Edward Blum, an activist against race preferences in Houston before he moved to Washington, D.C., said Fisher, who is white, will graduate in the top 12 percent of her class next month but learned in late March that she was not accepted at UT-Austin. The lawsuit doesn't challenge the top 10 percent law, which guarantees admission to those who finish in the top 10 percent of a Texas high school's graduating class. Instead, it contends that UT-Austin unlawfully uses racial and ethnic criteria to select other students. Blum and Fisher's lawyer, Bert W. Rein, said Fisher did not want to talk to reporters. "She's still in high school," said Rein, who practices in Washington. "She isn't looking to become a national symbol. She just wants to go to the University of Texas." Patti Ohlendorf, vice president for legal affairs at UT-Austin, noted in a statement that "every year, we ... receive applications from thousands of very able high school seniors, but as with many universities around the country, we are limited in the number of applicants we can admit." She said the university believes its admissions policies comply with U.S. Supreme Court guidelines. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Austin, and by mid-afternoon, Blum said he had heard from several other students who wanted to join as plaintiffs. His organization has a Web site, www.utnotfair.org, to draw interested students. The top 10 percent law was adopted after a 1996 court ruling stopped Texas colleges and universities from considering race and ethnicity in deciding admissions; UT-Austin's minority enrollment is higher now than at any time since the law passed. A 2003 Supreme Court ruling said colleges and universities may consider race and ethnicity in order to create a diverse student population only if race-neutral methods haven't worked. Blum argues that the top 10 percent law has worked, making it illegal to use race-conscious considerations for students who do not graduate within the top 10 percent of their class. Ohlendorf didn't address that specifically but said: "we believe that our undergraduate admissions policies are ... in compliance with Supreme Court precedent and all other applicable law." Fisher, meanwhile, will soon have to decide her future, perhaps before the case is settled. UT-Austin has 20 days to respond. The lawsuit asks that she be re-evaluated by UT-Austin in a "race-neutral" manner and admitted if she qualifies. It also asks that the school be stopped from using race-conscious criteria for students who fall outside the top 10 percent law. Fisher, who plays cello in her high school orchestra, has been accepted at Louisiana State University and Baylor University, according to the lawsuit. But accepting one of those schools, or a spot at another UT system campus, would require a deposit that wouldn't be refunded if she were later accepted at UT-Austin, Rein said. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5682324.html --- Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! ROTFLMAO.
Thats really suprising that she didnt get into UT but she was admitted into Baylor, whose admissions policies are alot more strict then UTs. I am in the top 10 percent and have already been admitted and am attending Baylor in the fall but I have many friends who are just outside the top 10 percent and got into UT but were denied admission to Baylor...
This is in fact true. I am Egyptian, and I know of many Egyptians that take advantage of the fact that since Egypt is in Africa, that they are allowed to apply to UT as "African American," instead of Caucasian. I'm talking ranks that are below the 50th percentile here, and they are offered admission at UT. My white friends get screwed royally being just outside the top 10% and not being offered admission. TAMU doesn't do what UT does because all my Egyptian friends get rejected from there while the same white friends make it. and Baylor is one of the easiest schools to get into..
The top 10% rule is r****ded. You can go to some ghetto run down school, be in the top 10% and get in, but if you're at one of the top high schools you could just miss it.
The 10% rules sucks but thats the breaks. The reason UT said no was because they have so many they have to let in from the 10% rule. I think it should be qualified by some min SAT scores. I grad before the 10% rule thank god. The do weigh harder classes with more power for rankings but not nearly enough. Taking basket weaving PE and shop its kinda easier to get A's compared to AP Chem, Cal, and AP econ and Gov.
I like the pictures from the website. They show students from all races. Why don't they only show rich white students? After all, this suit is aimed at helping rich white students from suburban high schools that already have their pick at universities.
It's much more than that. The 10% rule is also strongly supported by rural legislators out in the sticks. It isn't going away.
I've had it with this Affirmative Action, racial preference s***. Just today, I applied for a near ideal entry-level job given my education and background yet I know i'm pretty much automatically disqualified since the job itself is funded through some Ethnic Minority & Women's Grant program and had your typical phrase, "Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply" crap in it.
The Supreme Court ruled on this issue a few years ago, good luck getting them to take another look at it at any point in the next decade. Instead of wasting time and money on a lawsuit, maybe the chick should take a post-graduate year and reapply next year, or apply to better schools, or, even better, finishd in the top 10% to begin with. That's what kept her out more than any race-based preference.
Heck, if anyone gets the 10% rule changed, it'll be UT lobbying for it. And the result wouldn't favor this chick at all. The academic requirements would simply get harder, not easier. Someone's parents have too much money and time on their hands. A tutor would have been a better investment by Mom and Dad. Impeach Bush.
From the replies that I have seen in this thread and the facts presented within these replies it looks like the child's lawyer would inform the family that there is no case here based on precedence. Could there be some aspect of it that is being overlooked? I am seriously asking.
