Abigail Fisher wanted to read a degree at the University of Texas, Austin (UT) so she applied. They did not accept her application because her grades were too low. Nonetheless, Abigail was aggrieved. She sued UT on their admission’s policy claiming it put her at a disadvantage because she is white. UT policy considers academic achievements, leadership roles, and extracurricular activities. It also has ‘special circumstance’ which include race and socioeconomic status. That way UT can take affirmative action. Abigail said that the inclusion of race put her at a disadvantage because she is white. That is modern day affirmative action in America!
White Privilege
Abigail did everything the system asked of her. She worked hard, volunteered, earned respectable test scores and even played the cello. Like many other students. In addition to all of that, Abigail made her application as UT Austin legacy student (all her family attended). Although Abigail did not make the grade UT still offered her a place at a satellite campus with the option to transfer to Austin later. That was not good enough for Abigail. She sued UT when she did not get her way. For Abigail, her being white trumps mediocre grades and affirmative action.
In other words, Abigail expected her white privilege to take priority over the achievements of students of colour. Abigail said ‘Any kind of discrimination was wrong.’ However, 42 of the students admitted who had lower test scores and grades than Abigail were white. Only five were black or Latino.
Donovan Livingston and Michael Lee, Harvard students, sum up all the issues. Their spoken word piece below Dear Abby says it all.
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