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\nWhen it comes to the use of race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions, no one seems to be happy with the way it\u2019s playing out.<\/p>\n
\nWhen it comes to the use of race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions, no one seems to be happy with the way it\u2019s playing out.<\/p>\n
Opponents charge that taking into account an applicant\u2019s race or ethnicity amounts to \u201creverse discrimination<\/a>.\u201d Supporters recognize that disadvantaged minorities have been losing ground under affirmative action. Blacks and Hispanics are\u00a0less likely<\/a>\u00a0to attend a top college than they were 35 years ago.<\/p>\n As a professor of constitutional law, I\u2019ve\u00a0studied<\/a>\u00a0an important college admission policy from Texas that \u2013 when paired with affirmative action \u2013 can more fully address inequality and its consequences.<\/p>\n This policy bears more relevance now that the Trump administration has\u00a0reversed<\/a>\u00a0Obama-era support for affirmative action, following instead a Bush administration\u00a0guideline<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cstrongly encourages race-neutral\u201d admissions practices.<\/p>\n I believe the policy could also be instructive for Harvard, which is currently facing a\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>charging that the university\u2019s efforts to increase racial diversity discriminate against Asian-Americans.<\/p>\n The college admission policy in Texas holds that if students graduate in the\u00a0top 10 percent<\/a>of their high school class, they earn automatic admission to the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M and other state-run universities. This promotes diversity in the colleges\u2019 entering classes because students at poor, mostly minority high schools have the same odds of admission as students at wealthy, mostly white schools.<\/p>\n At UT-Austin, which admits students through both a\u00a0modified<\/a>\u00a0top 10 track and a standard track with an affirmative action component, the\u00a0top 10 students<\/a>\u00a0are 34 percent Hispanic while the standard students are only 20 percent Hispanic.\u00a0Nineteen percent<\/a>\u00a0of the top 10 students, but only 7 percent of the standard students, come from low-income families. When it comes to creating a diverse student body, the top 10 policy has done a better job than has affirmative action.<\/p>\n The top 10 policy has become a model in other states and countries. For instance, France\u00a0uses<\/a>\u00a0a top 10 policy for its universities. And New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has\u00a0proposed<\/a>\u00a0a similar policy for New York\u2019s elite public high schools.<\/p>\n Some observers worry whether high school class rank is an\u00a0adequate<\/a>\u00a0measure of student ability. The top students from a weak school may not be as capable as middle-of-the-pack students from a strong high school.<\/p>\n But Texas has been able to\u00a0maintain quality<\/a>\u00a0with its increased diversity. The top 10 students at UT-Austin\u00a0achieve<\/a>\u00a0at the same levels as their classmates who are most like the applicants who were denied admission because of the top 10 policy. The top 10 students also graduate at the same rate.The Texas top 10 percent policy<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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