When the U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes next, they will hear a case involving Abigail Fisher’s denied admission to U. Texas which was, she claims, due to affirmative action. This case should be of interest to all students and will without a doubt have implications for admission to all state universities.

Affirmative action clearly moves our society in a direction where the hurdles and barriers that exist, especially socio-economic ones, due to race are consistently being diminished. Universities should be able to continue considering race in their admissions processes if they choose to — not as the sole factor, but as a prudent consideration that is good for the public it serves and makes for a better, more vibrant and diverse university.

As the racial achievement gap in Minnesota unarguably shows us, opportunities for citizens of different races are not equal. The extra hurdles those of lower socio-economic status — who are disproportionately minorities — have had to overcome ought to augment a less-than-perfect record on admissions tests and other quantifiers. Judged holistically, their unique perspectives and viewpoints are valuable to a university and can make up for the couple of points lower they may have scored on the ACT.

Diversity in our country is what makes it great, and homogeneity in the populations of our universities will only lead to a stagnant and acutely unequal society. We need to take the steps to pull the disadvantaged peoples in our community up in class and opportunity, and our universities need to have the power to lead that fight. The Supreme Court needs to see the value of affirmative action and grant our universities their own discretion in deciding whom they admit.