The University of California system was sued on Monday by a student group for alleged racial discrimination in admissions by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants over Asian-American and white applicants.
Students Against Racial Discrimination said the use of racial preferences at all nine of the system’s campuses lets students with inferior academic credentials win admission at the expense of better-qualified applicants.
The group said this violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funds recipients from discriminating based on race.
It also said the preferences run afoul of Proposition 209, which California voters passed in 1996 to forbid race and other factors in public education, public employment and public contracting.
In a statement, the University of California said its undergraduate admissions applications collect data on students’ race and ethnicity “for statistical purposes only and they are not used for admission.”
It also said that since Proposition 209 passed, it has adjusted its admissions practices to comply with the law.