University of Texas will admit students on a race-neutral basis

The Hopwood vs. Texas decision announced by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on March 18, 1996 forces the University of Texas to admit students on a race-neutral basis. The court's ruling applies to state-run colleges in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. University of Texas officials have appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, and, without comment from the full court, the justices have refused to hear the appeal.

The four plaintiffs were not admitted by the University of Texas law school because the school used to discriminate against whites as part of its affirmative action poilicy.

Cheryl Hopwood was one of the plaintiffs in the case. Her father died when she was young, and she worked her way through high school and college. She has been a mother of a severely handicapped child and a baby who died hours after birth. The plaintiffs, the appeals court suggested, could provide the university a broader definition of diversity. Judge Jerry E. Smith pointed in particular to the "inique background" of Ms. Hopwood. "Individuals, with their own conceptions of life, further diversity of viewpoint," he wrote. "Her circumstance would bring a different perspective to the law school."

Another plaintiff, David Rogers, said in an interview: "The purpose of the lawsuit is to make the University of Texas fulfill Dr. Martin Luther King's dream, which is to judge each person individually, not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

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