White, Asian Students Sue University Of California Over Racial Discrimination

The group Students Against Racial Discrimination sued the University of California system on Monday, alleging that UC is still not selecting students in a “color-blind manner” despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 that race cannot be used as a factor in college admissions nationwide.

State governmental institutions, including the UC system, have been  prohibited from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, especially in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and public education, since Proposition 209 was passed in 1996. While it was challenged several times in court, Prop. 209 withstood the assault and influenced many more states to end their affirmative action policies in the coming years, as well as influence other major cases, including the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger ruling. Prop. 209 was also challenged by the state legislature in 2014 through the rejection of SCA 5 and by California voters in 2020 when 57% of voters, a greater margin than the initial 1996 vote, voted against Prop. 16, which would have repealed Prop 209.

In 2023, the ban against race being used as a factor for college admissions spread nationwide following the U.S. Supreme Court passing both Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. However, since then, UC schools have continued to skirt around the law. At UCSD, a special selection criteria for certain majors was instituted, favoring California residents, first-generation college students, and students from low-income families. DEI policies likewise attempted to bring in students with certain campus jobs.

With some policies in place, admissions at UC universities greatly differed at others. While racial admissions began normalizing at most universities across the country, UC reported in January that huge jumps in admissions were seen amongst Black and Latino students. Specifically, black student enrollment rose by 4.6 percent, American Indian student enrollment by 12.9 percent, and Latino student enrollment by 3.1 percent. Meanwhile acceptance of white and Asian students, which were also normalizing nationwide in the wake of the 2023 Supreme Court cases, fell. UC leaders claimed this as a win last month.

“The students behind these numbers come from all corners of California and are proof that there are many paths to a UC education,” said Han Mi Yoon-Wu, associate vice provost for Systemwide Undergraduate Admissions at UC. “The University of California is committed to making UC accessible to the best students. Our efforts are guided by the University’s compact with the governor, and we are grateful for the ongoing support of the state legislature in helping us fulfill this promise.”

UC sued

But the figures, as well as the last few years of discriminatory practices, caught the eye of groups fighting against white and Asian student discrimination. This led to the lawsuit filed on Monday, with Students Against Racial Discrimination suing UC over violating both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. According to the suit, SARD wants UC to select students in a color-blind manner and  to have a court overseer to go over decisions on admissions to “eliminate the corrupt and unlawful race and sex preferences that subordinate academic merit to so-called diversity considerations.”

As of Monday night, UC hasn’t yet responded officially to the suit as they have not been served yet. But they did note that they have been collecting student race and ethnicity data for statistical purposes.

“After the ban, we adjusted our admissions practices to comply with the law, and we collected undergraduate students’ race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only, not for admission,” said a UC spokesman on Monday to the New York Times.

The filing of Students Against Racial Discrimination v. Regents of the University of California further comes at a time where DEI and affirmative actions policies are being dismantled across the country, with the case following the trend in academia.

“This is a large bump in admissions like that, and it is very suspicious that it is going against most universities in the entire country,” explained legal advisor Carlo Matthews, who assists with cases involving diversity programs, to the Globe on Monday. “At the very least, the suit will show just what kind of programs are still happening and what violations against Prop 209 are happening. Universities keep trying to go around that law, but Californians have time and time again said they do not want affirmative action programs. The suit will make sure of that.”