Petroleum Engineering Student Associate Advocates for Educational Equality
-
October 22, 2012
“What starts here changes the world. We can’t afford to start going backwards on America’s commitment to diversity.” This quote was taken from a public statement made earlier this month on the steps of the Supreme Court by Kristin Thompson, a civil engineering major and student associate in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, supporting the university in the Fisher v. The University of Texas at Austin case.
Since her freshman year, Thompson has been involved with the Black Student Alliance (BSA), a special interest student organization at UT Austin that is committed to “uplifting and empowering our community through academic improvement, social involvement, political awareness and action, with the ultimate goal of developing student leaders and uniting the black community.” Thompson served as president of the organization in 2010 during her junior year, when the Fisher case was in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund (NAACP LDF) to file an amicus brief supporting the university’s holistic admissions process—and the BSA would go on to file a second brief along with the NAACP LDF in the Supreme Court this year.
Thompson was among six students chosen to accompany President Powers to Washington, D.C., and was also selected to speak after President Powers in the press conference on October 9. In her statement, Thompson highlighted the benefits of diversity as they apply to every student who attends UT Austin, not just minorities. She explained, “Race is just one of numerous factors— in addition to scholastic excellence— that UT Austin considers on an individual basis. It’s about the whole person, not merely their color.”
During their visit, Thompson and her fellow students had the opportunity to meet the family of Heman Sweatt, a black man who was refused admission to UT Austin in 1950 on the basis of race. Sweatt would go on to become the first African American admitted into the UT School of Law after the Supreme Court ruled in his landmark case, Sweatt v. Painter. He is remembered today as an integration pioneer who set the stage for Brown v. Board of Education, a case that four years later would put an end to segregation in public schools. Thompson described her time with the Sweatt family as “insightful” and said that she feels “honored to be continuing on in his legacy of promoting interracial diversity and the impact it has on the university as a whole.”
On her involvement with the Fisher case, Thompson said, “Advocating for educational equality has shaped my post-graduate interests—I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also applying to Teach for America because I believe these issues are important.” Thompson is set to graduate from UT Austin in May 2013.
For more on Thompson's connection to the Fisher case, please see this recent article in the Washington Post.
