A lawsuit has been initiated against the University of California this week, claiming racial discrimination in its undergraduate admissions process. The suit, filed by an organization called Students Against Racial Discrimination, argues that the university system is favoring Black and Latino applicants over those who are Asian American and white, potentially accepting students with lower academic qualifications in the process.
The legal complaint asserts that UC’s admissions practices contravene a California state law enacted by voter initiative in 1996, which prohibits the consideration of race and other factors in public education, employment, and contracts. Furthermore, it contends that the practices infringe upon the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race among entities that receive federal funding.
In response, UC reported that it had not yet received the legal documents but stated it is prepared to defend its admissions policies if needed. The university emphasized that since the prohibition of race consideration in admissions in California, it has adapted its practices to remain in compliance with the law. UC clarified that while applicants’ race and ethnicity are collected for statistical analysis, this information is not shared with those reviewing applications and does not influence admission decisions.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to prevent the university system, which encompasses ten campuses, from inquiring about applicants’ race and to appoint a monitor to oversee the admissions process. The plaintiffs argue that Asian American and white candidates are experiencing discrimination due to their race, while Black and Latino students are frequently placed at a significant academic disadvantage, leading to poorer outcomes as a result of the admissions policies that rely on racial preferences.
According to the lawsuit, all students are negatively affected by what it terms the University of California’s discriminatory actions. It also claims that UC officials have instructed campuses to implement a “holistic” approach to undergraduate admissions, which supposedly shifts the focus from objective criteria to more subjective evaluations of applicants.
As a supporting detail, the complaint references statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, reporting that in 2010, 13% of in-state Black students were admitted, compared to an overall admission rate of 21%. By 2023, this admission rate for Black students had decreased to 10%, while the overall admission rate stood at 12%.
This lawsuit arrives more than a year following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the use of affirmative action in college admissions, stating that race cannot be a factor and challenging educational institutions to find alternative ways to promote diverse student populations.
