There is no use denying it: we live in a diverse world.
Our society has come a long way since the days of government-supported segregation, and diversity is generally something we collectively appreciate. Or at least that is the face most of us want to show to the public.
Currently, the Supreme Court is deciding on whether to hear the case of a young woman, Abigail Fisher, in a case titled Fisher v. University of Texas. Fisher applied for undergraduate admission at the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 and was rejected.
Fisher, who is white, claimed that the university’s focus on accepting a certain percentage of students who do not necessarily identify as “white” was what lead to her rejection.
The University of Texas’ website has a page devoted to diversity on campus. The eye is immediately drawn to a photo of the school’s vice president surrounded by elementary school students. Emblazoned on the photo is the text, “The University of Texas at Austin Places High Priority on Diversity.”
It is heart-warming to know that a school in a rather conservative state is placing high value on diversity—although a photo of college-aged students might make more sense than elementary-aged children.
In 1996, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any student in the top 10 percent of his or her high school class would automatically be able to attend any public college in their home state. This move boosted minority enrollment as well as enrollment from rural areas.
The University of Texas at Austin recommends a minimum high school grade point average of 3.0 for admissions, which is not hard to attain. For example, during my four years of high school I took many advanced-placement, honors and college-level classes, did the average amount of work, had a part-time job and still graduated with extra credits and a 3.7 GPA. A 3.0 is a perfectly reasonable GPA requirement, even for those of us who identify as “lazy.”
Rather than blaming her own possible academic inadequacies, Fisher is pulling the race card. In accusing the University of Texas of being too focused on diversifying their campus, Fisher is acting in a manner mirroring “white” student behavior in Little Rock, Ark., during the 1950s.
Her attack on diversity brings to light an important question: should colleges consider ethnic and cultural diversity during the admissions process?
Of course they should! In 2003, the Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger challenged the University of Michigan’s law school and undergraduate admissions policies. The Grutter side stated that a racially diverse student body was beneficial to the educational experience, and that the state should feel compelled to lower the admissions bar for some racial groups and raise it for others.
The Supreme Court sided with Grutter, changing the constitutional standards in order to aid universities in assembling diverse student bodies.
Just look at PSU’s campus; every day thousands of students make their way to class across the park blocks. Each and every person has their own story (oh no, here come the clichés!), and that makes our campus special. PSU has done a great job of incorporating diversity into not only campus life and the admissions process but also the various teaching curricula used as well.
Many of the university studies classes are centered around the many different types of diversity (social, racial, religious, etc.) and focus on building a sense of community between students.
One must also remember that public universities are funded in part by the government. If the government decides that college campuses should be more diverse, then public universities do not have much of a say in the matter.
Universities are corporate enterprises, and just like any other big business they need money. Should a college refuse to adhere to the government’s wish to be more diverse…well, there goes all the federal funding.
Case in point: California’s public universities have been criticized in the past for focusing on accepting out-of-state students rather than California residents. While the state has been working on rectifying this, major amounts of federal funding were recently cut for all public California schools. Even the University of California, Berkeley, one of the top 10 schools in the nation, has lost out on millions of dollars in federal funding due to budget cuts.
We live in a difficult time in terms of economics. Competition in both the educational and economic world is tight. With a respect for cultural, social and economic diversity comes federal funding, and that makes us poor, starving college students smile.
So far, the University of Texas at Austin has done a good job of making its campus diverse and accepting students from of all walks of life. People like Abigail Fisher need to check their privilege and understand that being lazy will not help get a spot at certain colleges.
Texas adheres to that Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rule stating that the top 10 percent of students will get admitted to a public school of their choice. Maybe Fisher should have studied harder.