Page:Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 579 U.S. (2016) (slip opinion).pdf/32

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“almost a year of deliberations,” id., at 482a, but there is no evidence that the reintroduction of race into the admis­sions process was anything other than a foregone conclu­sion following the president’s announcement.

“The University’s plan to resume race-conscious admis­sions was given formal expression in June 2004 in an internal document entitled Proposal to Consider Race and Ethnicity in Admissions” (Proposal). Fisher I, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 4). The Proposal stated that UT needed race-conscious admissions because it had not yet achieved a “critical mass of racial diversity.” Supp. App. 25a. In support of this claim, UT cited two pieces of evidence. First, it noted that there were “significant differences between the racial and ethnic makeup of the University’s undergraduate population and the state’s population.” Id., at 24a. Second, the Proposal “relied in substantial part,” Fisher I, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 4), on a study of a sub­set of undergraduate classes containing at least five stu­dents, see Supp. App. 26a. The study showed that among select classes with five or more students, 52% had no African-Americans, 16% had no Asian-Americans, and 12% had no Hispanics. Ibid. Moreover, the study showed, only 21% of these classes had two or more African-Americans, 67% had two or more Asian-Americans, and 70% had two or more Hispanics. See ibid. Based on this study, the Proposal concluded that UT “has not reached a critical mass at the classroom level.” Id., at 24a. The Proposal did not analyze the backgrounds, life experiences, leadership qualities, awards, extracurricular activities, community service, personal attributes, or other charac­teristics of the minority students who were already being