A federal appeals court upheld the University of Texas-Austin’s choice to consider a student’s race during admissions in an attempt to create a more diverse campus.

The lawsuit against the University of Texas was brought forward by two white students who were denied admission to the University of Texas in 2008 and was unanimously overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Firth Circuit on Tuesday, according to court documents.

The University of Texas has been using a law called the Top Ten Percent Law, which allows automatic admission to any public university for those students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their class and to help with diversity prior to the decision, according to court documents.

The students argued the use of the Top Ten Percent Law has helped the university succeed in attracting minority groups and it shouldn’t have to consider race during admission in addition to the law. The students said their denial was a violation of their equal protection rights and federal civil rights statutes, according to the documents from the court.

The appeals court upheld the decision of the University of Texas, according to the documents, saying the race of an applicant could be used as one of the “special circumstances” used to evaluate the applicant since it would not be the only considered factor.

University of Wisconsin schools tend to factor race with those other non-academic factors, which is evaluated in addition to academic factors, John Lucas, UW spokesperson, said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

Lucas said students are assessed on multiple levels to assure they will be successful students at UW.

Donald Downs, UW professor of political science, said though using race as a factor for admission is a major trend in higher education, he is not surprised at the controversy surrounding the issue.

Downs, who is an advisor for The Badger Herald Board of Directors, said the history of racism can lead people to question if this is reverse discrimination, and the fact that institutions do not let the public know how much race is taken into account when admitting students leads to the high level of controversy.

“Universities are often not forthcoming with how they factor in race. It’s secretive, which makes it hard for someone to debate it,” Downs said.