Cornyn asks that high court review college
admission case Cornyn asks that high court review college
admission case
Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2001 at 21:23 CDT
By John Moritz Star-Telegram Austin bureau
AUSTIN -- Attorney General John Cornyn asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to review the Hopwood case, which effectively bars public universities in Texas from using race as a factor for admissions, scholarships and financial aid. In his petition, Cornyn, a Republican, said the University of Texas law school and other public schools need guidance in their efforts to correct past discrimination against racial minorities.
"The court's long silence on consideration of race in higher education has left conflict in the lower courts," Cornyn wrote. "Various conflicts on specific issues comprise a deeper conflict on the basic question of the constitutionality of affirmative action in higher education." The case dates to a lawsuit filed in 1992 by Cheryl Hopwood and three other white students against the University of Texas system after they were denied admission to the UT law school.
They said they had been passed over because the school gave preferential treatment to less qualified minority applicants. Although portions of their argument were rejected, a federal judge ruled that the university's admissions policy was unconstitutional. That ruling took on greater significance when then- Attorney General Dan Morales, a Democrat, issued a legal opinion saying race also could not be used as a factor for awarding financial aid and scholarships.
The high court declined to review the Hopwood case in 1996. Cornyn's petition, on behalf of the University of Texas System, argues that by using race as a criterion over the past three decades, public universities have addressed some of the problems caused by segregation during the decades before. For example, in 1971, before affirmative action policies were adopted, no minorities were admitted to the UT law school. "Over time, as the pool of minority applicants became stronger, the law school gradually reduced its reliance on racial preference," Cornyn wrote.
The petition seeks permission for the UT school of law to use race as one factor among others in admissions decisions on grounds that it has "a compelling interest" to help assure diversity. "This is probably the last chance to get a U.S. Supreme Court review of this case," Patricia Ohlendorf, vice president for legal affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Associated Press. Only one of the four Hopwood plaintiffs has become a lawyer.
Wade Carvell graduated from Southern Methodist School of Law. Hopwood is a certified public accountant and does not grant interviews about the case. In 1997, in the wake of Hopwood, the Legislature enacted the "top 10 percent" rule to combat a potential decline in minority college students. It requires the state's public universities to automatically admit seniors who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. At UT, more Hispanic and black students are being admitted, but the racial makeup of the freshman class has changed only slightly in the past five years.
In this fall's entering class, about 62 percent of freshmen are Anglo, 17 percent are Asian, 13 percent are Hispanic and 4 percent are black. In arguing for the Supreme Court to take up the Hopwood case, Cornyn pointed out that the courts have tended to direct states with histories of segregation to push harder for diversity. "For the first time in American history, a formerly segregated state institution has been prohibited from any ameliorative consideration of race in attempts to remedy past discrimination," he wrote.
John Moritz, (512) 476-4294 Send comments to jmoritz@star-telegram.com
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