forward with the sherpas. if the solution is found, goals of climbers who hope to scale everest will fall flat. >> and a reminder that you can keep up to date with the day's developing stories on the al jazeera website. aljazeera.com. decision restricts it even further. after texas, california, michigan. what are the dos and don'ts of the incoming freshman class? that's the inside story.

hello, i'm ray suarez. in the real world of college admission, the art, not the science, a lot of variables are taken into account. your high school transcript, sure. can you hit a baseball, run really fast? do you play the oboe or live in the part of the state or country that brings few applicants? did your parents go to our school? an elder brother or sister. what admissions departments don't do is rank all their applicants by academic prowess and accept the top applicants for the 1,000 spots for the incoming fres freshman class. what about race? taking race into account whether deciding to admit an individual applicant. you may endorse its value, and think of mixed student body both in class and in the determines,

but it has gotten nothing but harder to take race in the account of the admissions process. what is allowed now is our focus this time on "inside story." let's start with background. the high court affirmative action valuin ruling said that race should not be considered. writing this case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. it is about who may resolve it.

justice sonya so sonya soto mayor said at a does not give free rain against racial minorities and that can oppress minority groups. it's a conviction she has held for years even writing in their memoirs that she was admitted first to princeton and then yale law school through a back door. >> i think it's a basic concept of requiring equal treatment, and it's a value that i hold, and it's wrong, it's fundamentally wrong to treat people differently based on the color of your skin, race or ethnicity. >> reporter: but if it was lost some say it would not be fair. >> inequality exists throughout this country. we zoo it in employment, we see it in schools.

>> reporter: michigan's ban was approved by a 2006 referendum. 58% of voters approved the state constitutional amendment forbidding the consideration of race for applicants or jobs . >> affirmative action has been in the spotlight since . texas law say top ten of their graduating class automatically gain access to any of its colleges in texas. and she was just barely cut off and is sued.

the lower courts did not identify other realistic alternatives to promoting school diversity in texas. however, states and schools are reevaluates how to achieve a more diverse student body. the university of colorado boulder campus is using a new process taking into account the students' economic standing along side his or her grades. nebraska has a program offering free instate tuition for pell grant recipients who continue to do well in their constitution, and florida university offering extra assistance to the economically disadvantaged. after michigan's ban took effect many of its public colleges stepped up recruiting campaigns to attract minority applicants, however the number of black and latino applicants have dropped by a third since the ban started.

>> in states where affirmative action is pro h prohibited. one such state is florida where a ban on racial considerations has been in affect since 2001. joining us now to discuss how the university of florida has adapt is joe glover, senior vice president for academy affairs. provost. welcome to the program. was there a drop off of minority students after the ban. >> yes, but we discovered ways to work around that drop off. >> you still wanted a diversified body, how did you get one?

>> yes, we believe we have achieved it. we focus on students who are from low-income families and the first from their families to go to college. we found that they were quite diverse from a socio-economic view. we provide financial packages that make it possible for them to attend college, keeping in mind that they come from low-income families and particular families in that group are averse to loans. we do financial aid passage so students from that group don't have to take any loans. >> those other metrics that you talked about, using economic profiles, for instance, do they serve as reliable proxies for race. if you use them do you end up

with an application pool that is similar to high school in florida? >> no, that is not our objective. we do seek to having an admissions pool that is diverse, and we have found that looking at this particular group is an effective way at recruiting a diverse pool of africans and ultimately students who are admitted to the university. >> is florida under particular pressures historical and demographic because it's one of the big american states that in the coming years will become majority -minority. is this something that you have to think about because of florida's status in that regard? >> i think we're sensitive to the demographics of the state. the university of florida has to be sensitive to admission issues because we are premiere

institution in the state, and we get 30,000 applications per year for freshman class of 6400. so as you can tell from those numbers the pressure to enter the university are pretty intense, and so we do have the luxury of a large pool. students coming here, and in general the admissions office has been pretty successful at using these strategies to construct diverse student body relying on both the socio-economic criteria and financial aid passage that facilitate the entry of students into the diversity who might not historically or normally have availed themselves of the university education. >> you've mentioned a diverse student body on a couple of occasions. in the years that there has been this push back against the use of race and ethnicity

consciously in admissions decisions has there also been the undermining of the idea that diversity is important, that it would be valuable to have different kinds of people on campus? >> not on the university of florida campus. i don't believe in the state of florida itself. i think that we have reaffirmed our commit to diversity, and we constantly strife to ensure that the campus is a very diverse environment because we believe that only in a very diverse environment can the true benefits that an university education can completely realized. we work every day to ensure that we have an environment in which all of our students will benefit and be prepared to diverge into a very diverse world. >> thank you for joining us.

>> when we come back we'll talk more about the cumulative power of various court rulings, and ballot initiatives around the country, how it has changed the landscape for initiative offices >> all this week, trades near the speed of light... >> if you're not trading at those speeds, you're toast! >> billions of dollars at stake, is our economy insecurity now at the mercy of these machines? >> humans aren't able to receive information in that timeframe. >> we're looking at the risks, rewards, and dangers of high frequency trading >> there are no rules or regulations >> all this week on the new expanded real money with ali velshi helping you balance your finances and your life. now an hour, starting at 7 eastern / 4 pacific only on al jazeera america

>> the debate that divides america, unites the critics, a reason to watch al jazeera america the standout television event

borderland, is gritty honesty. >> a lot of people don't have a clue what goes on down here, the only way to find out, is to see it yourselves. >> taking viewers beyond the debate. >> don't miss al jazeera america's critically acclaimed series borderland on al jazeera america also available on demand >> welcome back. i'm ray suarez. on this edition of this program we're talking about affirmative action at universities and few people speak in favor of an all white or all asian class. what is in the box for those who want diverse backgrounds, points

of view on campus. joining us from new york, policy associate at the century foundation. in our washington studio, amanda frost. and in sacramento, california, ward connolly, founder and president of the american civil rights institute. professor frost, whatever the merits of the decision did yesterday's ruling make it easier for states to use an outright ban on race-conscious decision making around decisions. >> yes, the answer is certainly did, but i want to make cheer what the decision did not do. it did not strike down affirmative action for prevent states who would like to incorporate affirmative action. with the opinion held with the equal protection clause of the constitution, it does not bar a state like michigan from banning the use of race-based admission policy

. >> in those other states, are they right now untouched by this decision? >> no, this decision clearly sweeps as most supreme court decisions do, most broadly. those states who have already done this or in the future would like to put something in their constitution or state laws that ban the use of affirmative action by their public universities, those states know they can do that without threat of constitution challenge. >> when you look at the map of the united states, now that proposition 2 has survived are there more states waiting in the wings to codify in law something they've already wanted to do? >> no, i don't think so. i've been very active on this issue for the last several years .

certainly they weren't forbidden or deterred from doing something based on the outcome, pending outcome of the shooting case. >> this case has reached a dwell point that states can move on if they have, and states that have not. >> there are about 22 states that have citizen proposition where they are allowed. eight of those states are already dwelt with this issue, so they're reaching a point where there isn't a critical mass left over. >> looking at that same mass in you overlay restrictions, is it becoming clear what the template is

if you are a senior administrator. what's in, what's out, what you can do and what you can't in this area. >> yeah, i think there are a lot of strategies that have been used that i hope people will continue to follow, but also build upon. so you mentioned some of them already. percent plans are really big. florida, texas, california, they each have plans that admit students from the top percent from every high school across the state. capitalizing on the fact that getting geographic diversity will bring along socio-economic diversity. colleges are doing other things. colorado university boulder's plan has a really sophisticated plan for considering socio-economic affirmative action. they look at factors that effect

students and then consider that disadvantaged weighed with the achievement of students and something that they call overachievement index. comparing students' performance to students of similar backgrounds. those are strategies that some colleges have used so far, and hopefully we'll see other colleges turning to as we see race off the table. >> that percentage that you mentioned first was put under the spotlight in texas in the fisher case when the presumption was if you're in a tough urban district in san antonio or dallas, what it meant to come in 5th to 4th percentile in your class could be very different from other areas that might be well funded. did the idea finishing at the

top of your class in texas survive the fisher challenge? >> one thing to look at are the outcomes for these students. based on that these the idea is if you're getting kids in the top percent of their class at these really disadvantaged high schools, their a.c.t. scores are probably going to be lower than the top kids at some academically thriving school. for students enrolled in texas have confirmed that. what we've seen is that students of similar background, comparing students who made it through the percent plan but maybe didn't have the a.c.t. scores. those students are graduating with results that are seen who are admitted through traditional means through higher act scores. we're seeing that grit,

tenacity, over achievement, whatever word you want to use for it is playing out in terms that these kids are given good results when they are give a chance to attend these institutions. >> ward connolly, when you watch that tool being operated, are you at peace with that, or as some critics would have it still affirmative action. the high levels of segregation in this country? >> i'm at peace with it. any knocks that we're going to go cold turkey or even slower is a naive notion. i'm at peace with that. i think universities need to have some freedom to experiment with different things if they're going to try to build this diversity, whatever that happens to be. >> professor frost, in recent

years has it become tougher to use race and ethnicity in any way in some of the court cases, colleges wanted to retain the right to use it as one variable among a whole range of variables. >> it did survive challenging a 2003 case and it remains the case today what colleges and universities can have affirmative action policies. but because of the concern that it might violate, first of all, they have to have a compelling reason such as to diversify the the student body. it also benefits the races and the white students, the student majority, who need to interact with others who don't look just like them. the supreme court setting said that is a good enough reason to support affirmative action.

that remains the latte, but there cannot be any racial quotas, set numbers or figures. they have to be careful about how they use that factor. >> we're going to take a short break. when we come back we'll talk about the future of this issue as we move forward into a near term with fewer teenagers and into a long term with fewer white people. this is inside story. >> results of analyses were skewed in favor of the prosecution >> the fbi can't force the states to look at those cases >> the truth will set you free yeah...don't kid yourself >> the system has failed me download it now

>> welcome back to inside story. i'm ray suarez. back in 2007 john roberts the chief justice of the united states wrote the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. that was from the majority 5-4 majority in a high school desegregation case.

this week supreme court upheld michigan's end of race application at public universities. still with us in new york, howie potter, policy at the century foundation. amanda frost and in sacramento, ward connorly. founder and president of the american civil rights institute. howie potter, has this assault over affirmative action let to more honest conversations about what is at stake and what we're really trying to do for america's graduating high school seniors. that has been a lot of attention to the acceptance rates from minority students places like berkeley's undergraduate

program. now they have a 57% mexico-american student body. this is part of the uc system not the lower academic tier program. should we talk about where they'll find a more welcoming atmosphere and one that is likely to nurture their aspirations to finish in four years? >> absolutely. i think that we have seen this conversation shift. when race is on the table colleges unfortunately sometimes talk only about race. in an ideal world you would be able to look at race and social economic status. but the good thing is the push for the broadening

access its pushing it conversation. private universities receive huge subsidies that they, too, have a duty to serve our country equally. and research shows that students do much better when they're given a chance to attend selective schools. when one gets a chance to go to a more selective college and the other to a less selective college, the one who goes to a more selective school has better grades and better outcomes afterwards. when we look at what it means to moving forward there should an societal push of colleges of all levels particularly the selective institutions are providing access across the

socio-economic and racial and ethnic spectrum in our country. >> ward connorly is some of this going to be taken care of organically by time and demographics? the percentage of white students in senior classes across high school america is shrinking. obviously the percentage of minority graduates is growing. at the same time the number of high schoolers is going to shrink at least for a little while to come. will colleges be more clever about seeking out talented minority students trying to reengineer perhaps pass exclusion that created heavily lopsided student bodies? >> well, the jury is still out on that. although race-based decision making has been out for a number of years. many universities have been reluctant to embrace in my view the obvious, and that is

socio-economic measures as a replacement. but i think, and i underscore that, i think that they will be forced to make that decision within the next five to ten years. >> in what way? where do you seed pendulum swinging now? >> take california where 2089 209 passed and minority students are not able to academically compete for uc berkeley and san diego. as a result you're getting more students of an asian background that are going to those systems than the university wanting a form of diversity is compelled to try to look at socio- economic conditions as a substitute. >> professor, as we look at the

near term, can we reach a kind of where this is an issue it's an issue and where it's not it's not resting place, and it's left elsewhere? >> it's hard to predict the future, but i don't see this issue as simply now having come to some resting place. i think that there will likely be cases before the supreme court again in the fairly near future. some of the justices and majorities are also justice who is voted to strike down all affirmative actions on the ground. those justices such as chief justice kennedy, justice alito , as scalia, i think if they had they