Affirmative Action Myth Busted in Texas Lawsuit

I don't know how many of you remember this case, but a white student named Abigail Fisher who applied to the University of Texas in 2008 was denied admission. After receiving her rejection letter, while some of her other peers who were apparently minorities with lower grades than her, got accepted she claimed affirmative action was the cause. This led her to pursue legal action because she thought students of color stole her spot. She claimed the school was discriminating against whites and the school was not accepting students based on merit but skin color(because you know, what minority could possibly be smarter than a white person?). I see this sentiment repeated here on ATS all the time and its usually bs as it was in this case.

The year Abigail applied competition was already stiff:

In 2008, the year Fisher sent in her application, competition to get into the crown jewel of the Texas university system was stiff. Students entering through the university's Top 10 program — a mechanism that granted automatic admission to any teen who graduated in the upper 10 percent of his or her high school class — claimed 92 percent of the in-state spots. Fisher said in news reports that she hoped for the day universities selected students "solely based on their merit and if they work hard for it." But Fisher failed to graduate in the top 10 percent of her class, meaning she had to compete for the limited number of spaces up for grabs.

92 percent of the in state admissions were given to students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their class, so clearly their admissions are based on merit. Abigail was not in the top ten percent of her class in fact she was basically an average student.

Fisher did not particularly stand out. Court records show her grade point average (3.59) and SAT scores (1180 out of 1600) were good but not great for the highly selective flagship university. The school's rejection rate that year for the remaining 841 openings was higher than the turn-down rate for students trying to get into Harvard.

The year she applied competition was particularly stiff, I mean the school had a higher turn down rate than Harvard. So with all that it should be easy to understand why Abigail was not accepted to the school. But since race was a big part of this lets examine that.

She and other applicants who did not make the cut were evaluated based on two scores. One allotted points for grades and test scores. The other, called a personal achievement index, awarded points for two required essays, leadership, activities, service and "special circumstances." Those included socioeconomic status of the student or the student's school, coming from a home with a single parent or one where English wasn't spoken. And race.

So yes students of color, students who come from single family homes, and students who speak English as a second language do get brownie points. However:

University officials claim in court filings that even if Fisher received points for her race and every other personal achievement factor, the letter she received in the mail still would have said no.

So even if Abigail was awarded the brownie points based on her background she still would not have been accepted into the university.... Just to be fair though, there were some students who were given admission to the school who were not as competitive as Abigail Fisher. I am not sure why they were accepted the article does not really go into that. But of those students:

It's true that the university, for whatever reason, offered provisional admission to some students with lower test scores and grades than Fisher. Five of those students were black or Latino. Forty-two were white.

So even among the lowest scoring of the 2008 class, the majority of them were white. University admission practices are not biased to allow minorities in just because, they have to work for it just like whites do. Myth busted.

Article discussing the case

Originally posted by acmpnsfal
Affirmative Action Myth Busted in Texas Lawsuit

Actually what you've posted CONFIRMS the affirmative action "myth".

Originally posted by acmpnsfal
Those included socioeconomic status of the student or the student's school, coming from a home with a single parent or one where English wasn't spoken. And race.

Just that in the case of this one individual person, it wasnt a deciding factor that made a difference to this one person.
It was nevertheless a factor for some others.

People got in because of race, people didnt get in because of race.

reply to post by alfa1

People also got in because they only have one parent or didn't get in because they had two parents. People got in because they were poor while some people didn't get in because they were rich. Some people even didn't get in because they speak only English! At the end of the day, the amount of points that one would get don't amount to much at all. If Abigail was given all the special points she still would have been rejected. You still have to be a high achiever. The myth is not that affirmative action exists, its that it allows unqualified students admission. Which it clearly does not.

reply to post by acmpnsfal


Fisher did not particularly stand out. Court records show her grade point average (3.59) and SAT scores (1180 out of 1600) were good but not great for the highly selective flagship university. The school's rejection rate that year for the remaining 841 openings was higher than the turn-down rate for students trying to get into Harvard.

she had an A- average throughout high school 4.0 is nothing but straight A's all 4 years

1180 sat out of 1600 is amazing it got people I know into Stanford.

what you haven't shown is what the minorities in question scored on their sats and their GPA, that apparently took her spot.

Seriously when white people are referred to as "whites" and all other races are referred to as minorities it makes it pretty compelling there is an us verse them mentality especially when white people are actually the minority world wide. 8% White 92% Non-White yet where is my free admission to a foreign college?

reply to post by digital01anarchy


An 1180 is not an exceptional SAT score at all, I got about 1200 and I got rejection letters from public universities.A 3.6 is just above the B average. There is no A- on the GPA scale in grades. But even if there were that would be a low A. She never proved those minority students she referred to even existed, it was heresay. But the university provided proof they could not have existed because even if she were a minority she would not have been accepted so they couldn't exist, lol. Unless they have happened to be one of the 4 provisional students.

Your friends must be legacy or know someone to get into Stanford with a 1100 either that or they had really good high school GPAs.

Originally posted by acmpnsfal
reply to post by digital01anarchy

 

An 1180 is not an exceptional SAT score at all, I got about 1200 and I got rejection letters from public universities.A 3.6 is just above the B average. There is no A- on the GPA scale in grades. But even if there were that would be about a B+ not an A-. She never proved those minority students she referred to even existed, it was heresay. But the university provided proof they could not have existed because even if she were a minority she would not have been accepted so they couldn't exist, lol. Unless they have happened to be one of the 4 provisional students.

Your friends must be legacy or know someone to get into Stanford with a 1100 either that or they had really good high school GPAs.

edit on 21-3-2013 by acmpnsfal because: (no reason given)

edit on 21-3-2013 by acmpnsfal because: (no reason given)

Ok prove it that you got a 1200 on your SAT's and not the new SAT's scores
wiki.answers.com... says its an A-
wiki.answers.com... 1200 is a good sat score 1180 is very close

reply to post by digital01anarchy

You know what you're right that would be an A-, whats your point though? Also, again there is no such thing as an A- lol, that would be a low A here a chart from The Princeton Review

Liberalism makes me sick!!!!

Originally posted by acmpnsfal
reply to post by digital01anarchy

 

You know what you're right that would be an A-, whats your point though? Also, again there is no such thing as an A- lol, that would be a low A here a chart from The Princeton Review

edit on 21-3-2013 by acmpnsfal because: (no reason given)

edit on 21-3-2013 by acmpnsfal because: (no reason given)

lol look at your chart 3.5 90 A on the lower end meaning A- seriously if you cant even read a chart correctly I doubt you got a 1200 on your S.A.T's

way to change your response before I got to it lol

my point is she busted her arse off and just because she is "white" her struggle means nothing to you. While minority students from high schools that rank in the nations lowest might have had comparable gpa's. amazingly SAT's scores didn't get factored in. I wonder why? But i bet "sat scores" with the white students did to show inaccurate data suggesting white students took her spot and if I'm right that would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt her case was correct

reply to post by digital01anarchy

Eh, you gotta notice your own mistakes.

reply to post by acmpnsfal


what year did you graduate high school? if you took the SAT's that went up to 2400 then your score of 1200 would easily reject you from colleges admissions

In this particular case she wouldnt get in anyway, however the "myth" is hardly busted. It is a fact that many people arent accepted because of their race. Thats the whole point of AA, after all, admissions are a zero-sum game. In universities with high applicant/admission ratio even a few points due to race mean that lots of people dont get in who would otherwise do just because of their race. And thats racism, not any less wrong no matter which race gets the preference.

reply to post by digital01anarchy

Clearly it was on the 1600 scale, I graduated in 2006 but I took the SATs in my junior year, we had the choice to use the old one or take the new one. Either way it didn't really matter because they weren't counting the essays yet. Nice try though.

reply to post by Maslo

It's not exactly "lots" universities don't reserve many spots for AA applicants. If they did there would be way more minorities accepted to extremely competitive programs just because of the leg up.