Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: September 3, 1999

UT System News Release

Chancellor responds to announcement on Hopwood by the Texas attorney general

AUSTIN – A decision by Texas Attorney General John Cornyn to withdraw an opinion that the Hopwood case applies to student financial aid programs is welcome news, University of Texas System Chancellor William. H. Cunningham said Friday (September 3).

"We deeply appreciate the attorney general’s efforts on behalf of the University of Texas and all of Texas higher education," Cunningham said.

"We will be reviewing his announcement carefully and look forward to his defense of our position before the federal appeals court. We are eager to see the legal issues raised by this case finally resolved."

Cunningham said Cornyn’s announcement will be reviewed with the U.T. System Board of Regents and the System’s Office of General Counsel. Cornyn advised universities not to make changes in their financial aid programs pending the appeal because this area of the law remains unsettled.

The U.T. System discontinued affirmative action programs based on race in both admissions and financial aid after the Hopwood decision was issued by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1996 and after Cornyn’s predecessor, Dan Morales, construed the opinion as applying to financial aid programs.

The State of Texas is in the process of appealing the Hopwood case to the 5th Circuit.