Obama says affirmative action will be around for the foreseeable future

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said in 2003 that affirmative action should expire within 25 years, but in a new interview with The New Yorker, President Obama says that was a "ballpark figure."

After a white college student charged that she was denied admittance to the University of Texas because of her race last year, the Supreme Court ruled that "schools could use race as a factor if no other 'race-neutral alternatives' for admission could achieve diversity," The Washington Times reports.

Obama says that racial preferences should be considered if there is "value in making sure that folks with different experiences in a classroom will enhance the educational experience of the students."

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