The Supreme Court will begin its review of a case regarding affirmative action in higher education on Wednesday.

The court will review Fisher v. University of Texas, a suit brought by 22-year-old Abigail Fisher. Fisher, who is white and from Texas, said the university’s admission policies unfairly denied her a spot in 2008, The Michigan Daily reported on Oct. 8.

Race is one of several factors taken into consideration in the University of Texas’ admissions process. The university has a policy of automatically accepting students from Texas who were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

The case could potentially overturn a 2003 decision, which said public colleges and universities can take race into consideration in the admissions process. The decision came out of two University of Michigan cases.

At the time, Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor served as provost of the University of Michigan and was instrumental in building the university’s case.

Now that the issue of affirmative action has reached the Supreme Court again, Thomas Keck, chair of the department of political science at SU, said this case is one students should take an interest in.

“It’s an important constitutional issue and one that certainly affects college students more directly than most constitutional issues,” Keck said.

There are essentially two possible outcomes of the case: narrowing the previous ruling or overturning it entirely, he said.

In the 2003 ruling, the court said taking race into consideration during the admissions process was acceptable as long as universities did not use racial quotas, Keck said.

The current court is “more skeptical” than the 2003 court, Keck said, and the ruling might be narrowed because it is not adequately justified. In this scenario, the ruling would have little impact on universities other than the University of Texas, he said.

The second scenario, Keck said, is one where the court overturns the 2003 ruling and declares the process unconstitutional. This ruling would have an effect on all universities.

Keck said he feels the first scenario, in which the ruling is narrowed, is more likely.

SU takes race into consideration as part of its “holistic” application process and as part of the university’s goal of creating a diverse student body, Keck said.

He said he supports this policy, and feels universities can better educate their students and provide them with real-world examples through a diverse community.

Keck said there are strong arguments on both sides of the issue.

Said Keck: “There is no easy answer.”

Published on October 10, 2012 at 2:10 am

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris