The LSU Law Center and the Eric Voegelin Institute will present a panel discussion on Oct. 10 about the Supreme Court decision on universities’ use of affirmative action in the admissions process.
Titled “Affirmative Action & the University: An Inside View of Fisher v. University of Texas, Austin,” the discussion will feature LSU Law Dean Thomas Galligan and Allan Van Fleet, senior counsel at McDermott Will & Emery, LLP. In 2012, Van Fleet filed a Supreme Court amicus curiae brief in Fisher v. University of Texas on behalf of the family of Heman Sweatt, who in 1946 was denied admission to UT Law School for the sole “fact that he is a negro,” leading to the landmark case Sweatt v. Painter.
In June 2016, the United State Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in Fisher v. University of Texas, Austin that the university’s decision to take race into consideration as one factor of admissions is constitutional. The plaintiff, Abigal Fisher, a white woman from Texas, was denied admission from the University of Texas in 2008 and alleged that the university had discriminated against her on the basis of her race.
The discussion will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Oct. 10 in the Hill Memorial Library Lecture Hall.
