University of California Sued for Discrimination Against Whites, Asians

A lawsuit filed Monday against the University of California launched a new salvo in the assault on affirmative action, accusing one of the country’s largest public university systems of illegal racial discrimination in admissions.

The complaint, filed in federal district court in California, alleges that the universities unfairly give admissions preference to Black and Hispanic applicants in violation of antidiscrimination laws.

The plaintiff, a group called Students Against Racial Discrimination representing White and Asian would-be applicants, seeks to force a change in the admissions practices and ensure compliance with federal antidiscrimination law and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, according to the lawsuit. If successful, the lawsuit would stop the schools from considering or asking about race during the admissions process.

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“More lawsuits are coming,” said Jonathan Mitchell, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “Universities continue to defy the law by using race and sex preferences in student admissions and faculty hiring. We will keep suing them until they adopt colorblind admissions and rid themselves of every last vestige of these odious and discriminatory practices.”

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Last summer, he and other lawyers sent a letter to more than 100 universities warning that a plaintiff group that had just filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University, alleging that its law school hired less-qualified women and people of color over White men for faculty positions, intended to seek other cases. That letter advised anyone currently or formerly affiliated with the university to keep records and communications related to faculty hiring and law-review decisions. {snip}

The nine UC schools — including two of the most selective public universities in the country, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of California at Berkeley — have been barred from using racial preferences in admission since a state referendum was approved in 1996.

According to the complaint, the universities’ discriminatory preferences allow applicants with inferior academic credentials to obtain admission at the expense of rejected candidates with better credentials. The practice discriminates against “large numbers” of Asian American and White applicants denied admission because of their race, the complaint contends, and harms Hispanic and Black students who are “often placed at a significant academic disadvantage, and thus experience worse outcomes, because of the university’s use of racial preferences. {snip}”

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