Appeals panel upholds race in university admissions

In a long-running affirmative action case, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last week upheld the University of Texas at Austin’s consideration of race as one of many factors in admissions, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.

“We are persuaded that to deny UT Austin its limited use of race in its search for holistic diversity would hobble the richness of the educational experience in contradiction of the plain teachings of Bakke and Grutter,” Judge Patrick E Higginbotham wrote, referring to two previous affirmative action rulings by the Supreme Court.

William C Powers Jr, president of the University of Texas at Austin, said he was pleased with the decision upholding the admissions policy. “This ruling ensures that our campus, our state and the entire nation will benefit from the exchange of ideas and thoughts that happens when students who are diverse in all regards come together in the classroom, at campus events and in all aspects of campus life,” he said.
Full report on The New York Times site