The University of California is facing a lawsuit for allegedly discriminating against Asian and White students in its admissions process.
This comes in spite of California’s ban on affirmative action, which was approved by voters in 1996.
The big picture: Students Against Racial Discrimination (SARD), the plaintiff, accuse the UC system of violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as California’s affirmative action ban.
- Asian and White discrimination has occurred at all nine campuses in the system, the group alleges.
- According to the lawsuit, the UC system has given preferences to non-Asian minorities, allowing applicants with inferior academic records to be admitted at the expense of Asian and White applicants who have better academics.
- “This discriminates against large numbers of Asian-American and white applicants, who are denied admission to UC schools based on their race,” the lawsuit reads. “And it also harms Hispanic and black students who are often placed at a significant academic disadvantage, and thus experience worse outcomes, because of the university’s use of racial preferences. Students of all races are harmed by the University of California’s discriminatory behavior.”
Flashback: California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996 to ban all preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the public sphere.
- The UC system applied race-blind admissions following the ban.
- Two years ago the U.S. Supreme Court banned universities from considering race in admissions.
What we’re watching: SARD is asking a judge to ban the UC system from asking about race on applications and to compel the universities to elect applicants in a color-blind manner.
By the numbers: SARD says in the lawsuit that the UC system has used a more “holistic” approach to its admissions, rather than going off of academic credentials.
- In 2010, UC Berkeley admitted Black applicants at a 13% rate while the overall admissions rate was 21%. Black applicants were admitted at a 10% rate in 2023 while the overall admissions rate fell to 12%.
- Another example cited in the lawsuit is UC Irvine, with Black applicants admitted at a 24% rate in 2010 compared to an overall rate of 45%. In 2023 Black applicants had a 21% admissions rate compared to 26% for all applicants.
- Black in-state applicants at UCLA were admitted at a 14% rate in 2010 while the overall rate was 23%. By 2023, Black students were admitted on a 10% rate, while the overall rate fell to 9%.
What they’re saying: The UC system said in a statement on Tuesday that it had not yet been served with the lawsuit but is prepared to defend its policies in court.
- “Since the consideration of race in admissions was banned in California in 1996, the University of California has adjusted its admissions practices to comply with the law,” the UC system said. “The UC undergraduate admissions application collects students’ race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only. This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admission.”