The homepage of the Project on Fair Representation (POFR) features a smiling photo of Abigail Fisher, the young White woman at the center of Fisher v. the University of Texas, which could end race as a criterion in university admissions.
Edward Blum, founder of POFR, a conservative advocacy group, connected Fisher with Wiley Rein LLP, the Washington, D.C., law firm that will argue her case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Fisher claims that UT discriminated against her because she is White. But the closely-watched case is more than one young White woman’s challenge to UT’s admissions policy because she was rejected. The lawsuit is part of a concerted effort to end race-conscious policies — from universities to the workplace.
The website for the Project on Fair Representation reads: “For the next few years, POFR will devote all of its efforts to influencing jurisprudence, public policy, and public attitudes regarding race and ethnicity in four arenas: voting, education, contracting and employment.”
Such efforts aren’t new — challenges to expanding voting rights and educational opportunity have been bitterly fought throughout American history, through recent times with 2003’s Grutter v. Bollinger, which allowed race as a factor in admissions. But at a time when most universities have reached a consensus about the merits of racial diversity, both how it enhances students’ educational experience and prepares them to succeed in a global workforce, the Fisher case appears out of step with the prevailing ideas in academia.
“There are two levels on which [the lawsuit] is happening. One is a level of objection to civil rights, an aggressive defense of the status quo and an effort to try and make sure nothing changes in terms of segregation — whether at UT or voting power,” said Ian Haney-Lopez, who is the John H. Boalt professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches in the areas of race and constitutional law.
“It’s also part of a larger right-wing movement to tarnish liberalism and break up the coalition that supported the New Deal,” Haney-Lopez said, through encouraging a small section of Whites to view non-Whites as a threat to their status.
