A Supreme Court decision next spring will decide the fate of affirmative action at universities across the country, but will not affect admissions at Iowa State, officials say.

A lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Center for Individual Rights, stems from two cases in Michigan where white students felt they were victims of reverse discrimination, according to the CRI’s Web site, http://cir-usa.org.

“The oft-repeated prediction that the future of race-based admissions will rise or fall on the outcome of these cases has become reality now that the Supreme Court will decide,” the Web site stated.

Marc Harding, ISU director of admissions, said the decision would not affect admissions at Iowa State.

“Race is not a factor in admissions here at Iowa State. Period,” Harding said.

Harding said it is written in the Iowa Code that at Iowa’s Regent universities race can not be a factor in admissions policies.

“It is an extraordinarily fair system,” Harding said. “It makes no difference who you are.”

However, Harding said if the Court has a broad interpretation it could affect scholarships for minority students.

“It could potentially impact our ability to attract minority students,” Harding said.

Harding said an end to affirmative action could most notably affect the National Achievement Scholarship.

“It recognizes the best and brightest African-American students, so that has the potential to be affected,” Harding said.

ISU currently has minority scholarships for African-American, American Indian, Hispanic, and Korean students.

Also, there are 100 George Washington Carver scholarships, which are full-time awards offered to incoming minority freshmen who were in the top 25 percent of their high school class.

Karla Hardy, sophomore in sociology and freshman outreach co-chair for the Black Student Alliance, said if the decision affects scholarships, it will have an impact on minority students that are attracted to Iowa State because of the opportunity to receive aid in the form of scholarships.

“A lot of minorities are not going to come if there is no scholarship,” Hardy said.

Hardy said she received the Carver scholarship last year.

Sarai Arnold, sophomore in biology, also received the Carver scholarship.

“The reason I’m here is because I’m a minority,” Arnold said. “Without the scholarship I wouldn’t be here.”

Hardy said scholarships are not given to students because of their race alone. Many factors are involved in the selection of scholarship recipients.

“Scholarships go to high-achieving students who happen to be a minority,” she said.

Hardy and Arnold agree the scholarships are necessary for minorities who otherwise would be unable to afford college.

“Minority scholarships are necessary because there is still a disparity,” Hardy said.

Hardy said a lack of minority scholarships would also certainly affect the amount of diversity at Iowa State.

“You won’t see a lot of diversity,” Hardy said. “There’s not a lot here anyway.”

Arnold said she believes the numbers would be the same, but the composition would be different.

“Lots of scholarships here go solely to minorities . . . if those students were competing with whites their chances would go down,” Arnold said.

According to the Board of Regents Web site, www2.state.ia.us/regents, for the fall 2002 semester, racial and ethnic minority students comprised 7.3 percent of Iowa State’s nearly 28,000 total enrollment.

Harding said although Iowa is one of the least ethnically diverse states, at around 5 percent, “Iowans are fair; people are interested in diversity,” Harding said.

Harding said most people are ready to see the affirmative action debate end.

“People are glad this issue is going to the Supreme Court,” Harding said, “It needs to be resolved,” he said.

Hardy said although great progress has been made, there are still distances to overcome.

“We’re thankful for all the rights and liberties we have now,” Hardy said. “But we still need things.”