Instead of telling her where to shove it, the Supreme Court sent Fishers case back to the appeals court. Now she and her lawyers are back again. This time, theyve tweaked their argument a bit, trying to argue that diversity itself is an illegitimate goal for schools and, to add a bit of extra nastiness sauce to it, theyre claiming that diversity is bad for students of color.
In other words, Fisher and her lawyers are concern-trolling the Supreme Court.
Most of UT Austins admissions are on the basis of high school class standing about 80 percent of its class in the year that Fisher applied. But the other 20 percent are determined in a holistic fashion, by looking at grades, extracurricular activities, test scores, writing samples, the usual stuff. Because of the schools commitment to diversity, race and class background is also taken into consideration. Someone who shows potential but faced some obstacles gets a closer look than someone who hasnt had similar obstacles.
When you read about this case, it quickly becomes self-evident why the admissions committee didnt think Fisher had some hidden potential that wasnt reflected in her grades. Fisher, however, has decided her unparalleled genius is going unnoticed because of the notorious racism against white people. But since that argument hasnt gotten her very far, her lawyer, Edward Blum, is now trying a different tactic to argue that schools should admit mediocre white people over talented students of color: His claim is that giving students of color an opportunity somehow hurts them.