Court reviews race, admissions

A recent federal appeals court decision regarding affirmative action at the University of Texas Law School has sparked a closer look at the admissions policies of universities nationwide. The court ruled in favor of the four white plaintiffs -- who had been denied admission to the Texas law school -- that race should not be a factor in admissions decisions. The decision will affect only public schools in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana -- states under the 5th Federal Circuit Court's jurisdiction. The University's Law School will not be affected by the ruling because it is both a private institution and outside of the court's jurisdiction, according to Janice Austin, assistant dean of Admissions and Financial Aid for the Law School. But she said that race is a factor considered in the Law School admissions process. "Our faculty has adopted the approach that we should have a highly qualified pool of diversified individuals," she said. "But we don't have any policy here at Penn like the Texas policy." The admission policy at the University of Texas Law School gives preferences to black and Mexican American applicants. Applicants are given an index score based on their combined LSAT scores and undergraduate grade point average. But the cutoff index for admission to the law school is lower for minorities than it is for non-minorities. Earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Dan Morales said he will appeal directly to the Supreme Court in the Hopwood v. State of Texas case. "If it does escalate up to the Supreme Court, it is possible that the case could expand to include many institutions," said Harry Payne, assistant director of the University's Office of Affirmative Action. "But right now they are specifically looking at that isolated incident." If the Supreme Court were to rule in Hopwood's favor, socio-economic factors and background experiences would be more heavily weighted in admissions as schools try to maintain diversity in their student bodies, Austin said. But according to Payne, affirmative action offices are not concerned that their programs will be abolished because of this case. "As long as an institution, be it private or public, uses federal funding, they have to follow the executive order to maintain equality for protected group entities," Payne said. Texas universities proceeded with their admission of students for the fall but are abiding by the new court ruling. Penn's Law School has sent out 98 percent of its admissions letters and students will begin matriculating in May, according to Austin. Faculty and staff at the Law School have discussed the implications that the federal decision might have. "Anything that happens with affirmative action, people sit up and take notice," Austin said. "We were not expecting the 5th Circuit to rule the way they did."