Supreme Court to hear case on race-based admissions

The court agreed Monday to hear two cases, one against Harvard and another against the University of North Carolina for discrimination of Asian students, and using race as a factor during the admissions process.

Plaintiffs accuse the universities of “penalizing Asian American applicants,” and using “race as a factor in admissions,” which they say could affect affirmative action and higher education equity programs.

The court is consolidating the two cases, led by Students for Fair Admissions.

“Harvard uses race at every stage of the admissions process,” Students for Fair Admissions wrote in its petition.. “African-American and Hispanic students with PSAT scores of 1100 and up are invited to apply to Harvard, but white and Asian-American students must score a 1350….in some parts of the country, Asian-American applicants must score higher than all other racial groups, including whites, to be recruited by Harvard.”

“Like Harvard, UNC is devoted to using race indefinitely and at every stage of its admissions process,” the petition in the case against UNC wrote. 

Both Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions programs were upheld by lower courts, but Students for Fair Admissions argues that the Supreme Court should overturn the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger, which ruled schools could use race as a factor in admissions because such schools have a compelling interest in having diverse student bodies. 

In its response to the petition from Students for Fair Admissions, Harvard argued its admission process did not in fact discriminate against Asian-Americans. It noted that it could not possibly admit even all applicants who have a perfect GPA and therefore must consider many other factors – one of which is “the capacity to contribute to racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, or geographic diversity.”