How Does Justice Department’s Targeting Of Colleges Using Affirmative Action Affect Texas Schools?

The New York Times reports that the Trump administration wants the Justice Department to investigate and sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies.

"And the argument here is that these programs go too far and therefore discriminate by race," Charles "Rocky" Rhodes, who teaches constitutional law at the South Texas College of Law Houston, said on Houston Matters.

In Fisher v. University of Texas, Supreme Court ruled last year that colleges can consider race as one of many factors when deciding which students to admit.

But Rhodes said if the Justice Department moves forward with its plan, schools like UT could be targeted.

"You could have a program today that's too much of a quota," he said. "And then the Trump administration could certainly sue to prevent that program from continuing."

According to the Texas Tribune, among public universities in Texas only UT Austin considers race in its admissions process.

And among private colleges, Rice and Southern Methodist University do.

Correction: A previous version of this story said Midwestern State University considers race as a factor in its admissions process. An MSU spokesperson says it does not. We regret the error.