The federal lawsuit challenging race-conscious admissions practices at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – like a similar case involving Harvard in another federal courtroom – is likely to end up in the high court in a similarly prolonged legal battle, according to some observers.
The cases are also, they suggest, part of a new wave of challenges to affirmative action in higher education that are likely to continue.
“It’s really the recycling of arguments that we have seen in past challenges that have been addressed by the court,” said Dr. Liliana M. Garces, an associate professor in the school of education at the University of Texas at Austin and an affiliate faculty member at the UT School of Law.
Students for Fair Admissions sued UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard separately in 2014, alleging in both cases that race-conscious affirmative action practices at the schools have unfairly and illegally penalized Asian American and White applicants.
On Friday, both parties asked U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs to issue a ruling based on their filings without going to trial. Biggs, appointed to the bench by President Obama in 2014, previously denied a motion by UNC to dismiss the suit.
Attorneys for UNC contend that its policies adhere closely to constitutional requirements and the high court’s prior directives, and that UNC has a “compelling interest” in racial diversity’s educational benefits.
SFA, however, alleges an overemphasis on race and inadequate consideration of socioeconomic status and other ways of achieving racial diversity in student admissions. It argues that UNC and Harvard have exceeded how the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed colleges and universities to use race as one of multiple factors in college admissions, to the extent of unfair bias against Asian and White students.
