Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Audrey Anderson was interviewed by June Grasso on the Bloomberg Law Podcast about a recent federal judge’s ruling that will allow the University of North Carolina (UNC) to continue using race in its admissions process.
The suit against UNC was brought by the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) and was similar to a previous case SFFA brought against Harvard. As Audrey points out, in both cases, SFFA “allege[s] that the University of North Carolina put too much weight on race in admitting students to its program and also that it did not adequately consider race-neutral alternatives before using race as a factor.”
She went on to explain that “the difference between this case and the Harvard case factually is that in Harvard there was evidence that one factor in the Harvard admissions program – the personal rating – had been analyzed by Harvard itself to show that it disadvantaged Asian-American students … There was nothing like that in the North Carolina case. There was no smoking gun evidence to show that UNC was discriminating against any racial group.”
As Audrey explained, the judge in the UNC case “ruled that the University of North Carolina’s use of race is completely consistent with what the Supreme Court has held is appropriate under the Constitution. She found that the University of North Carolina has proved that it was using race for the educational benefits of diversity.”
The full episode, “UNC Can Continue Using Race in Admissions Process,” was released by the Bloomberg Law Podcast on October 25 and is available online or wherever you get your podcast content.