Judge rules UNC non-admittance of white and Asian students, race-based admissions not discriminatory

A federal judge endorsed the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) use of race as a factor in screening applicants after ruling that the university did not discriminate against white and Asian American applicants.

No discrimination: Judge Loretta Biggs ruled on Monday that the UNC’s undergraduate admissions process had not been discriminatory toward specific race groups, reported CNN.

* The group Students for Fair Admissions alleged in its 2014 lawsuit that UNC deliberately discriminated against certain members by including race in its admissions process.

* According to the suit, UNC allegedly used “racial preferences in undergraduate admissions where there are available race-neutral alternatives capable of achieving student body diversity,” and employed “an undergraduate admissions policy that uses race as a factor in admissions.”

* Biggs argued, however, that UNC engages in “a highly individualized, holistic admissions program.”

* According to Briggs, the university clearly demonstrated that its undergraduate admissions program “withstands strict scrutiny and is therefore constitutionally permissible.”

* The judge further wrote: “While no student can or should be admitted to this University, or any other, based solely on race, because race is so interwoven in every aspect of the lived experience of minority students, to ignore it, reduce its importance and measure it only by statistical models as SFFA has done, misses important context to include obscuring racial barriers and obstacles that have been faced, overcome and are yet to be overcome.”

Upholding discriminatory policies: While the UNC welcomed... (Read more)

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