Affirmative Action in brief

“The roots of [the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case] actually goes back to 1946 when a man named Heman Sweatt, accompanied by officials of the NAACP, submitted his application to attend the law school at the University of Texas at Austin,” Mauro said. “The very same university involved in the Fisher case.” Sweatt was a black man and was denied admission based only on his race, Mauro said. The court case Sweatt v. Painter ruled the university could not deny him based on his race. The 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger at the University of Michigan further set a precedent for the viability of diversity for affirmative action. In Fisher v. University of Texas case, Mauro said, the Grutter case helped set the standard that universities must now be prepared to explain how their policies of affirmative action are the best way to create diversity.