A newly formed group dedicated to fighting what it calls the covert use of affirmative action in admissions decisions by colleges in the University of California system announced on Monday that it was filing a lawsuit, aiming for an injunction to prohibit any consideration of race in student admissions.
“The University of California has not been served with the filing,” a spokesperson for the UC system, Stett Holbrook, said on Tuesday. “If served, we will vigorously defend our admission practices” Holbrook added. “We believe this to be a meritless suit that seeks to distract us from our mission to provide California students with a world class education.”
The consideration of race in college admissions was banned in California in 1996, when voters approved the ballot initiative Proposition 209.
The group behind the suit, Students Against Racial Discrimination, was founded by Richard Sander, a professor of law at UCLA, and Tim Groseclose, a professor of economics at George Mason University.
Although the two professors are the only named members of the “students” group, their website says that unnamed students are members. “We include students (and parents of students) who have been rejected by the UC schools even as classmates with substantially lower academic credentials – but a more favorable skin pigmentation – have been accepted,” the site says.
The founding members say the group was established in late 2024 to “restore meritocracy in academia” and say that diversity considerations are still being used by UC schools.
The group’s website points to two recent headlines to suggest that the UC schools “pretend” not to consider race in admissions. One is from a New York Times report last August, At M.I.T., Black and Latino Enrollment Drops Sharply After Affirmative Action Ban. That report noted that after the US supreme court’s 2023 decision banning affirmative action, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology saw a sharp drop in the percentage of Black, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander students.
The second headline was from a Los Angeles Times report a month before: UC sets new record with largest, most diverse class of California students for fall 2024. That report noted: “The University of California admitted the largest and most diverse class of undergraduates for fall 2024, opening the doors of the vaunted public research institution to more California low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students of color.”
“Why,” Students Against Racial Discrimination demanded to know, “did the UC’s demographics not change like MIT’s?”
The legal complaint accuses the California system of using “holistic” approaches first adopted at UCLA to consider Black and Latino applicants.
The suit, filed in federal court in Santa Ana, California, asks the court to appoint a court monitor to oversee admission decisions.
America First Legal, which was founded by Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, is supporting the suit.
UC maintains that adjusted its admissions practices to comply with that law. “We stand by our admission policies and our record of expanding access for all qualified students.” Holbrook said. “The UC undergraduate admissions application collects students’ race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only. This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admission.”
