DOCTORAL-GRANTING UNIVERSITIES: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN’S FISHER V. UT AUSTIN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASE

Abstract

Affirmative action is a recurrent issue in United States’ higher education, due to the legal complications of using race (and other discriminating factors) as an admission’s decision factor. Utilizing the case study of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a literature review and cybernetics’ loop of interaction framework was used to deconstruct the position(s) of the University of Texas Austin’s admissions department and affirmative action policy, the stakeholders, and the Supreme Court. In turn, this paper worked to construct an analysis on affirmative action. Drawing from the cybernetic framework, the literature review presented affirmative action’s history, examined admission policy to cultural and social movements, and noted that UT Austin declined Fisher’s admission and offered her other opportunities to enter, which she declined. From the cybernetic framework, the value of variable demonstrated the interconnection between social controls (i.e., communication, group interaction of stakeholders) and structure controls (i.e., affirmative action policy, governance process) of an organizational culture. Moreover, of the 6,715 students from the admission class of 2008, 3,256 students performed better on the SAT, whereas 311 African Americans and 1007 Hispanics scored better than Ms. Fisher. Thus, Ms. Fisher accused UT Austin of using a race-based admissions affirmative action policy. The two arguments that the University of Texas Austin provided were: 1) UT suggested that diversity at the school-wide level was insufficient (Kahlenberg, 2012), and 2) “the class-based affirmative action and Top 10% plans did not produce sufficient levels of socioeconomic diversity within the student body’s black and Latino communities” (Kahlenberg, 2012). The recommendations were to resolve affirmative action and maintain diversity through different venues, and take into account socioeconomics because this includes underrepresented candidates, which can increase the diversity of the institution.