SAN FRANCISCO — Though campuses nationwide will likely face more scrutiny over their admissions policies in the aftermath of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a former Clinton administration official turned UT professor predicts that using race as a factor will continue as part of UT’s affirmative action efforts.
“Race-neutral policies fail in Texas,” said Norma Cantú, a UT professor of educational administration. “There are still racially segregated and isolated high schools in the state, even in 2013. We shouldn’t have them anymore, but we do.”
Cantú’s comments came during a session of the six-day, American Bar Association (ABA) annual meeting, which drew 8,000 attendees and wrapped up Tuesday.
Cantú, who holds a joint faculty appointment in UT’s law school, also cited statistics resulting from the university’s race-blind “Top Ten Percent” admissions policy, which, for at least a decade, has guaranteed undergraduate admission to any student who graduates within the top 10 percent of his or her Texas high school. In 2012, about half of all qualifying Whites in the state and one-fourth of all qualifying Asians applied to UT under the “Top Ten Percent” offer.
But only one of every 17 qualifying Blacks sought admission under the plan, a figure that was identical among qualifying Hispanic students, as well, Cantú said, adding, “We just don’t get enough Blacks and Hispanics.”
Under President Clinton, Cantú served eight years as assistant secretary of education for civil rights. In recent weeks, UT officials have been considering how to proceed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to send back to the lower courts for additional review the lawsuit filed by Abigail Fisher, a White student who was denied admission to UT. The high court said the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not apply “strict scrutiny” of the race-conscious Texas admissions policy.
