University of California Schools Illegally Used Racial Preferences in Admissions, Lawsuit Alleges

By Catherine Hodder, Esq. | Reviewed by Joseph Fawbush, Esq. | Last updated on February 06, 2025

Can a college ask about students’ race as part of the admission process if they are prohibited from making race-based admissions?

Students Against Racial Discrimination (SARD) filed a lawsuit against the University of California (UC), claiming that their admission policies unfairly favor Black and Latino students at the expense of more academically qualified white and Asian American students. They claim race played a part in the UC’s admissions practices, and they are asking the court to prohibit race-based questions.

Race Can No Longer Be a Factor in College Admissions

The U.S. Supreme Court held in 2023 that public colleges that consider race as a factor for admission violate the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Many people were upset, worrying that this decision would adversely impact underrepresented groups and minorities.

However, the University of California System has been prohibited from using race in admissions decisions for decades. California voters passed a law in 1996 that prohibits the consideration of race and other factors in public education and public employment.

As for the impact on minorities, the UC System announced admitting the largest percentage of minorities in 2023. The UC system declared that their freshman class was the most diverse student body, representing 46.7% of minorities, 34.2% of Asian Americans, and 19.1% of whites.

Students Against Racial Discrimination believe this was done in violation of the law. The University of California asks about a student’s race and background on their application.” They are claiming the UC system is illegally using this information and racial preferences to boost the representation of minorities on its campuses.

Affirmative Action in College Admissions – The Beginning

Affirmative action began during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement promoted the idea that all should have the opportunity to succeed in areas of employment and education, regardless of race, gender, and other factors. The focus of affirmative action was to help underrepresented groups or a group who had been historically discriminated against, such as women or racial minorities. Therefore, through affirmative action, companies and colleges could consider race as a factor in hiring or admission to create a more diverse representation of individuals.

With respect to college admissions, this meant that a college could consider a student’s race or background in addition to their test scores and grades when making admission decisions. Race or background could not be the only factor.

Proponents of affirmative action assert that it is necessary to correct past injustices and inequality. Colleges argue that higher education benefits when there are students with different ethnicities and backgrounds to exchange ideas and offer diverse viewpoints. Critics claim it is essentially discrimination and unfair treatment of another class of people, even if that class had previously enjoyed more representation.

Affirmative Action in College Admissions – The End

One critic was the nonprofit group Students for Fair Admissions. This group sued both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina for using race in admission decisions, claiming it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Equal Protection Clause requires that individuals be treated fairly and equally under the law and that one class of citizens cannot benefit over another.

In the lawsuit against Harvard, the plaintiffs allege that Harvard used racial quotas in their admissions process. They claimed Harvard gave preference to Hispanic and black applicants, which adversely impacted the number of Asian American and white students admitted.

The U.S. Supreme Court held that race can no longer be a factor in college admissions.

Can a College Ask About Race if Race Is No Longer a Factor?

SARD’s lawsuit in federal court seeks to prohibit UC schools from asking about a student’s race in undergraduate admissions. They claim that the universities are unfairly considering race and violating the 14th Amendment equal protection clause and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibit federal funding to institutions engaging in racial discrimination.

The UC System, which had not yet received the complaint, responded in a statement that race is only used for statistical purposes. However, one can argue that if statistical information was necessary, the UC system could ask about race, background, and gender after the admissions process or upon enrollment.

UC Sued for Affirmative Action Admissions and Data (FindLaw's Blog Archive)

Has the Supreme Court’s Decision on Affirmative Action Affected College Enrollment? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)

SCOTUS Undoes Two Decades of Affirmative Action (FindLaw's Federal Courts)

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