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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Federal judge dismisses affirmative action lawsuit by rejected applicant

Public Access to Court Electronic Records
Public Access to Court Electronic Records

After GW denied him admission last fall, a Mexican-American man named Eric Flores tried to take the University to court for failing to weigh his race in its decision.

Media Credit: Public Access to Court Electronic Records

Flores, an El Paso, Texas resident, claims GW rejected him but accepted other applicants with the same 2.5 grade point average. When GW refused to reverse its decision, Flores filed a lawsuit against the office of undergraduate admissions.

He alleged that the office “erected barriers such as grade point average scales” to segregate students like him and treat them unequally, according to the handwritten complaint.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton dismissed the case Jan. 27, arguing that GW had a rational reason to reject Flores because his GPA was not competitive with other applicants.

Flores also asked the court to allow him to proceed without paying legal costs or fees, telling the court that employers have refused to hire him because of his criminal history.

This isn’t the first time Flores has sued a university for unfair treatment.

He filed a case against the University of Texas at El Paso, claiming the school rewrote textbooks and sold them to minority students to give them “a hard time in learning.”

“This was done to make sure that the minority students would never obtain the academic qualifications needed to be appointed to government office that have been retained for white students only,” the complaint read.

University spokeswoman Maralee Csellar declined to comment on the case.

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