Supreme Court takes affirmative-action case

The Supreme Court said this week that it would reconsider the role of affirmative action in college admissions, adding fuel to an ongoing election-year debate about race in American life. The court will hear a white student’s claims that the University of Texas’s race-conscious admissions policy kept her out of its freshman class. Nine years ago the court narrowly ruled that universities were allowed to take race into account in considering applicants, in an effort to create racially diverse schools. Supporters say such corrective action is still necessary. “We are still living with the tragic legacy of slavery and Jim Crow,” said Columbia University President Lee Bollinger.

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