AUSTIN,
Texas
A legal group that
fights against racial preferences in schools and workplaces has filed a
complaint with the U.S. Department of Education about the University of Texas
at Austin’s use of race in its undergraduate admissions process.
The
complaint filed Friday by the Washington-based Project on Fair Representation
accuses the university of violating a law that bars discrimination by
government agencies that receive federal funds.
About 70
percent of UT-Austin freshmen from Texas are automatically accepted under a
state law that guarantees top students a spot at the public university of their
choice. The rest of the class is selected through a holistic review process
that considers many factors, including the applicant’s race.
Edward Blum,
the group’s director, says that practice “is illegal, to say nothing of being
unfair and polarizing.”
“The U.S.
Department of Education needs to end this practice before the next round of
freshman applications is submitted,” he said in a statement.
Patti
Ohlendorf, UT-Austin’s vice president for legal affairs, says the university
will cooperate with the Education Department if it opens an investigation into
the complaint. But she says the school is confident that its policies are in
line with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions about race-based admissions
decisions.
