Black students respond to Justice Scalia with ‘#StayMadAbby' hashtag

Black college students and graduates are responding to comments made by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia during a Wednesday hearing for the ongoing Fisher v. University of Texas case.

During the Wednesday affirmative action arguments, Scalia suggested that some black students belong at “slower-track” universities. He implied affirmative action puts minority students in elite universities that are too challenging for them.

“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school, where they do well,” he said.

Scalia’s argument did not sit well with many black students and graduates succeeding in prestigious schools. Hundreds are using the #StayMadAbby hashtag to show photographs in caps and gowns and, particularly for UT-Austin students, throwing up their horns.




Note: Currently, White students make up nearly 50-percent of the student body at the University of Texas at Austin. Black or African-American students make up approximately four-percent of the UT-Austin undergraduate body.

In 2008, Abigail Fisher was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin and decided to sue the school for race discrimination— claiming that as a white student, the university denied her admission because of her race. O
nly 47 students admitted to UT-Austin that year had lower GPA's and test scores than Fisher 42 were White, only five were minority students. Fisher has since graduated from Louisiana State University.