Abigail Fisher is a brave girl.

In 2008, Fisher went in front of the entire nation, of which about 25 percent is non-white according to the 2010 census, and said she did not get accepted to the University of Texas at Austin because she is white.

Now, brave does not mean right. And brave does not necessarily mean heroic.

What it means is that Fisher said through a megaphone what many people may be afraid to say aloud: “Where would I be if race was never a factor?”

Most everyone knows an extremely intelligent, high-achieving non-minority student that did not get into his or her dream school. And to that, they’ll say: “If he or she didn’t get in, who does? Maybe things would be different if he or she were a minority. Maybe it wouldn’t.”

This is a thought, in a perfect society, that wouldn’t have to be considered. But each year when college decisions come out, those thoughts cross through many students’ minds.

These thoughts also work in reverse. When an extremely intelligent, high-achieving minority student is accepted to a good school, non-minority students may question if he or she really had the intellectual merit to get in.

In an attempt to bring more diversity and equality to college campuses nationwide, affirmative action has, in some ways, pitted the races against each other. All behind closed doors though.

Except for Abigail Fisher.

On June 24, the Supreme Court ruled ambiguously in favor of affirmative action. It upheld that race is and can still be a factor in admissions decisions, but colleges have to prove that race-based admissions policies are needed and done so with the utmost judicial scrutiny. The court also suggested that admissions offices consider race-neutral policies to attain more minority students.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925, which was the first to mention the term “affirmative action.” This order, which created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, mandated that projects using federal funds were to execute “affirmative action” policies to make sure there were no racial biases in hiring.

Ever since, affirmative action has pushed on — not without a few setbacks, however.

But overall, it has increased diversity in multiple areas of life — the workplace and college campuses being two large components.

The University of Texas uses a combination of race-neutral and race-conscious policies in its admissions process. Its Top 10 Percent Plan, which was in effect when Fisher applied to the university, automatically admitted the top-10 percent of all applicants in Texas high schools. Since adjusted, the top-8 percent of applicants for the 2013-14 academic year will be admitted. This is widely considered a race-neutral plan. Because of the high population of minority students in Texas high schools, this plan successfully increased the amount of minorities accepted to Texas universities.

The remaining applicants are reviewed holistically, with race as one of many components.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign does not have an automatic-admit program. Its system for putting race into consideration for admissions is less structured. But this is not to say it is not legitimate.

On the University’s admissions requirements webpage, it states that the personal characteristics of applicants are taken into account: “In order to continue to provide an atmosphere that values students who have a unique set of experiences and knowledge, readers consider each applicant’s background. This includes diversity, veteran status, geographic location, and first-generation status.”

Interestingly, these two different approaches by two different universities wielded similar results in campus diversity. The largest difference was in Hispanic population.

Diversity on college campuses is extremely important. It brings more viewpoints to the table and opens students up to many different types of people.

The matter of how universities choose to bring in diverse students is what is controversial.

And it probably will always be controversial.

But Abigail Fisher has opened up the conversation again, which keeps lawmakers and admissions offices on their toes.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

Kirsten is a junior in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].