U.S. sides with UT in defending race-conscious admissions

statesman.com
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 10:28 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Obama administration has sided with the University of Texas in a challenge to the school's consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions.
UT uses race "in an extremely limited way" that complies with a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision, in a case called Grutter v. Bollinger, that upheld the affirmative action policy used by the University of Michigan Law School, the federal government wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief filed last month with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the UT case is pending.
"The university's effort to promote diversity is a paramount government objective," the government said. "In view of the importance of diversity in educational institutions, the United States, through the Departments of Education and Justice, supports the efforts of school systems and post-secondary educational institutions that wish to develop admissions policies that endeavor to achieve the educational benefits of diversity in accordance with Grutter."
The support is welcomed but not surprising, said Patti Ohlendorf , UT's vice president for legal affairs. "We expected that the federal government would agree regarding the importance of diversity in higher education," she said.

Full Story: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/u-s-sides-with-ut-in-defending-race-497690.html

See the amicus curiae brief filed by the American Council on Education: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News_Room&CONTENTID=35880&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

See the amicus brief filed by the Department of Justice in Inside Higher Ed article: "Strong Backing for Affirmative Action." http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/01/affirm