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"Lawmakers earlier this year voted to base promotion in lower grades in large part on a student’s performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills tests, which are being revised. The significance was not lost on Prado, who said the case is "probably the most challenging decision I’ve had to make" in 15 years on the bench. Prado, one of the first Hispanics to ally with the Republican Party in San Antonio, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. "While there have not been many cases involving standardized tests, the legal principles at issue are fairly well established, having evolved from employment cases. Plaintiffs — in this case African-American and Mexican-American students who passed all their classes but failed at least one part of the TAAS test — first must show there was a disproportionate impact because of the test requirement. The plaintiffs presented evidence that 20 percent of minority students ultimately fail the TAAS test compared to 10 percent of white students.
"…The testing case, however, divided the minority community. Jimmy Vasquez, the
former Edgewood district superintendent who joined Kauffman in the school funding fight,
testified for the state in the TAAS case. Vasquez also taught high-school math to Prado,
who attended schools in the Edgewood district. Vasquez, who now heads the state’s
Education Service Center in El Paso, testified that he thinks students are getting a much
more equal learning opportunity now. He expressed anger when asked by Amsel whether
standards should be lowered for minorities. Vasquez said, "I fear that that attitude
can be the worst form of patronizing a student." (Law News Network by Janet
Elliott, Texas Lawyer 11/01/99) Texas (State): Minority Students Don't Need a Preference to
Succeed (08/29/99) "Based on students who have paid deposits for fall enrollment and those in summer programs which qualify them to enroll this fall, 14 percent of the 1999-2000 UT undergraduate class will be Hispanic and 4 percent African American, exactly the same as the percentage in 1996-97, the last year of pre-Hopwood admissions. Since Asian undergraduates grew by two percent, the post-Hopwood class will actually be more racially diverse. "Clearly, those who equated Hopwood with Jim Crow were gravely wrong. Consider a few of the headlines from some of the Chicken Little commentators who predicted dire consequences if the Constitution were applied to the admission process at Texas colleges: "Hopwood is a roundhouse blow to diversity at UT." "Hopwood is a living nightmare in Texas." "Hopwood's race-blind policies signal segregation shift." "What caused the doom and gloom predictions? First, the defenders of racial quotas patronizingly underestimated the abilities of minorities in order to bolster their argument that equity requires the use of racial classifications and preferences.
"Secondly, since 1997, selective Texas universities have implemented what
'affirmative action' was originally meant to be: outreach and recruitment, not dual
admissions standards for whites and minorities." (Dallas Morning News 08/29/99
by Edward Blum and Marc Levin) Texas (State): Legislator
Questions Hopwood Decision (03/23/99 - dead link) But Texas Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) has asked the new attorney general, John Cornyn, to reconsider that interpretation of "Hopwood". Ellis, and other Democratic legislators, hungry for minority votes, are anxious to re-instate the use of financial aid on a racial basis. These legislators are afraid that Texas colleges and universities are losing minority students to other institutions who do offer race-based financial aid. Marc Levin, executive director of the Campaign for a Colorblind America, and an alumnus of University of Texas, said in a statement that "Hopwood" clearly and unambiguously prohibits public universities from using race as a factor in any of their operations, including financial aid.
Edward Blum, chairman of the Campaign for a Colorblind America, said "We understand
the concerns that some educators have about other states being able to attract minority
applicants with lucrative financial aid packages. However, the solution isn't for Texas to
break the law but for all other states to follow Texas' lead in moving towards a
colorblind 21st century." (Daily Texan, 03/23/99, by Danielle Cooper) Texas (State): Texas
Struggles for "Diversity" in Colleges after Hopwood Ruling (03/21/99 -
dead link) "Lawmakers and educators have been seeking ways to boost minority enrollment [mostly unconstitutional and illegal ways] since 1996, when the Hopwood ruling led to the abandonment of [racial admissions quotas] and a decline in the number of minorities at Texas colleges and universities. In 1992, Cheryl Hopwood and three other white students [successfully] challenged the UT Law School's [illegal, race-based] admissions policy.
"A new law guaranteeing the top 10 percent of all high school graduates admission to
any state institution helped increase numbers last fall, although not to pre-Hopwood
levels." (Dallas Morning News, 03/21/99, by Jayne Noble Suhler) Texas (State): Minorities
Fail at Higher Rate than Non-minorities (02/09/99) (dead link)
"One of every two Hispanic and African-American students from the 1994-1995
ninth-grade class never reached the 12th grade, compared to one of every three Anglo
students, the IDRA report said." (Express News, 02/09/99, by Lucy Hood) Texas (Amarillo): Racially
Gerrymandered School Boards? (01/26/99) Texas (Austin): Bill
Passed to Overturn Hopwood; Allow Racial Admissions (05/07/99) Sen. Barrientos' bill is designed to circumvent the Supreme Court’s Hopwood decision which prohibits the consideration of race in student admissions. "The bill, passed 30-0, prohibits graduate and professional schools from relying solely on standardized test scores such as the Law School Admission Test for admissions or scholarships. 'Low minority enrollment in graduate and professional schools at our state's top universities is a persistent problem,' Barrientos said before the vote. 'Members, I don't have to tell you the facts again . . . over 50 percent of public school students are minorities, that the majority of Texans will be racial and ethnic minorities within 10 years.' "
At no time in his speech did Tex. Sen. Barrientos mention the Supreme Court's Hopwood
decision which makes race-based admissions illegal, nor did Barrientos mention that the
U.S. Constitution allegedly protects citizens from such race-based decisions.
Barrientos also failed to offer any proof that academic ability reflected in standardized
tests is inherently racially discriminatory. (Based on the Austin-American Statesman
05/07/99 by A. Phillips Brooks) Texas (Austin): Racial Quota
Bill Revived in Texas Legislature (03/31/99 - dead link) "A similar bill failed to exit the committee last session, but Rangel has revived the legislation again in an effort to reverse some of the effects of the Hopwood decision. The 1997 Hopwood ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court effectively ended affirmative action at Texas colleges and universities that receive federal funding. "Rangel said Morales's interpretation of the ruling established three requirements for the consideration of race in admissions, scholarships or other programs: The Legislature or a court would have to prove past discrimination, show existing effects of that discrimination and create a narrowly-tailored program to remedy those effects. "The proposed bill could meet these criteria if the Legislature declared that Texas universities have discriminated against African Americans and Hispanics in the past and that the effects of that discrimination continue into the present, Rangel said.
"But Marc Levin, executive director for the Campaign for a Colorblind America and a
UT alum, said the bill would not qualify under the Hopwood exemptions because it is not
narrowly-tailored and because it includes Hispanics, who were not subject to the same
legal segregation as African Americans." (The Daily Texan, 03/31/99, by
Danielle Cooper) Texas (Austin): Panel
testimony cites Hopwood's effect on colleges (03/30/99) "By all accounts, she could be a poster child for the race-neutral admissions process that all of the state's public colleges and universities adopted in the aftermath of the 1996 federal court ruling referred to as Hopwood. She's African-American. She's the product of a modest upbringing in the South Texas town of Victoria. And she met all of the university's basic requirements without anyone lowering the bar for her.
"But, in her eyes, there's one big problem: She has a hard time finding anyone else
like her on campus. 'Every time the subject of race comes up in a class, I'm looked at
like I'm supposed to speak for all African-Americans,' the junior biochemistry major
said. 'I can't do that. I'm just one black person from a small town.'
" (Express-News, 03/30/99, by Jaime Castillo) Texas (Austin): Affirmative action
battle to heat up (01/24/99)
"Greve, who took part in a panel discussion at a national conference here on
affirmative action issues, also said such cases will no longer be litigated primarily by
ideological organizations like his own - a conservative advocacy law firm based in
Washington, D.C. Instead, individual lawyers will be filing suits, such as a case
recently in Boston where a local attorney brought two suits against the prestigious Boston
Latin School, over its admissions requirements." (Michigan Live, 01/24/99, by
Susan Carney) Texas (Austin): UT Stops Recruiting Minority
Professors (for paid subscribers only) Texas (Austin): After
'Hopwood', Top 10% College Admission Law Yields Mixed Results (dead link) Texas (Austin): University
of Texas Students Protest End of Racial Quotas (dead link) Texas (Austin): Texas
Diversity Policy Overturned (03/20/96 - dead link) "The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision issued late Monday struck down an admissions policy at the University of Texas law school giving preference to blacks and Hispanics as a violation of the Constitution's equal protection guarantee." This landmark case became known as "Hopwood v. Texas" after Cheryl Hopwood, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. "The 5th Circuit's case began in 1992 when Cheryl Hopwood, Douglas Carvell, Kenneth Elliott and David Rogers were denied admission to the (University of Texas) law school when their undergraduate grades and test scores narrowly missed a category that guaranteed admission. (However,) the school allowed lower grade points and admissions test scores from blacks and Hispanics.
"The three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit acknowledged that the Supreme Court in the
1978 case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke said universities have a
compelling interest in educational diversity that would justify race preferences in
admissions. But the appeals court noted that in recent affirmative action rulings,
the Supreme Court has suggested that the only compelling state interest for affirmative
action is remedying past wrongs." (Washington Post Wed., 03-20-96, by Joan
Biskupic, page A01) Texas (Austin): Affirmative action ruling halts
admissions at U. of Texas " 'This could affect literally every public institution in America because all of them take racial diversity into account in admissions,' University of Virginia Law Professor John Jeffries Jr. said Tuesday. 'This is incredibly big.' " "Four white students had sued the school in 1994 claiming they were denied admission by an unlawful policy based solely on race.
"Writing in the 2-1 decision that specifically applies only to Texas, Louisiana and
Mississippi for now, Judge Jerry Smith said the school can't discriminate against one
group while trying to repair the past exclusion of another, "even for the wholesome
purpose of correcting perceived racial imbalance in the student body." (Detroit
News 03-20-96) Texas (Austin): A collection of articles and analyses by UT author Jim Dedman. Mr. Dedman's commentary originally appeared in The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. [Last Known Link as of 4-30-02: Texas (Dallas): State
Seeks Ways to Attract Minority Students (01/11/99 - dead link) "Since the Hopwood ruling, law-makers and educators have been searching for ways to attract more minority students. A law requiring institutions to automatically admit the top 10 percent of Texas high school graduates helped increase the number of minorities at some schools, but more needs to be done, said Sen. Teel Bivins, R-Amarillo, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee.
" 'Scholarship legislation will be another race-neutral way that we'll be able to
help minority kids,' said Mr. Bivins, who called scholarships 'the number one' issue
facing higher education." (Dallas Morning News, 01-11-99, by Jayne Noble
Suhler) Texas (Houston and Fort Worth): Houston, Fort Worth Cited for Gains in Minority
Education (10/14/99 - dead
link) "Motivated in part by Texas's system of grading schools on how well students from different racial and ethnic groups perform on standardized tests, Houston and Fort Worth since 1994 have realized gains in minority student achievement with a concerted focus on improving instruction in reading and mathematics. Based on results on state tests given in the elementary, middle and high school grades, Houston has closed the gap between whites and minorities by 40 percent in reading and math, while Fort Worth has reduced its gap in those two subjects as well as in writing by about 35 percent.
"Texas Gov. George W. Bush, front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has
advocated an emphasis on reading and touted the state's school grading system, which is
being used as a model for draft House legislation to renew the federal Title 1 remedial
program for disadvantaged students. 'Even though the [school] accountability system
was in place before the governor came into office, he has worked to strengthen and expand
it,' said Linda Edwards, Bush's press secretary." (Washington Post 10/14/99
page A02 by Kenneth J. Cooper) Texas (Houston): Schools
Discriminate in the Name of Diversity (dead
link; 01/20/99) "Windsor Village Elementary School is in a middle-class suburb of my hometown, Houston, Texas. Unlike most public elementary schools here, Windsor Village has been rated ``exemplary'' by a state educational rating agency. Admission to its Vanguard program is highly prized by parents who want the very best education for their children.
"Last year, a 7-year-old girl applied for admission to Windsor Village and was denied
entrance, even though her test scores and grades were higher than many other children who
were admitted. What rationale was given by administrators of the Houston Independent
School District for denying her admission? She was the wrong color. In the quest to
maintain racial ``diversity,'' a child was denied an exceptional educational experience.
Although it does not matter to which race she belongs, in fact she was black, and a
lesser-qualified child who was admitted was white." But according to their
rigid racial quotas, in the name of 'diversity', the school already had too many black
children, according to their formula. Where will it end?
(The Charlotte Observer, 01/20/99, by Edward
Blum) Texas (San Antonio): Foundation Pledges $5 million for Minority Scholarships (01/21/99) (dead link)
"The corporation was very clever in structuring the donation. Students can get a nice
scholarship award that carries over four years if they are economically
disadvantaged," Chancellor John T. Montford said. Half of the SBC donation will
be used to fund 200 permanent scholarships of $25,000 ... to be awarded ... to
economically disadvantaged youth", according to the story. (San Antonio Express
News, 01/21/99, by Gloria Padilla) Texas (San Antonio): Lower
the Scores to Admit More Minorities to San Antonio Schools (no link) Texas (San Antonio): Race-Based
(Minority) Scholarships are Unconstitutional (no link) END of Texas - Racial Quotas in Education |
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