For decades, one of the biggest challenges public universities have faced has been finding a formula that allows them to correct racial imbalances from past admissions policies while adhering to constitutional prohibitions against discriminating on the basis of race. The idea has been to give minorities a fighting chance, but in a case decided by the Supreme Court Thursday, a white woman contended that she became the victim of racial discrimination as a result.

The Supreme Court made the right call in the case, deciding on a rule of 4 to 3 that the University of Texas at Austin is correct to weigh race as one of many criteria — but not the sole one — during admissions evaluations. As in previous racial discrimination cases involving university admissions, this was a tough, but correct call.

The student applicant behind the case, Abigail Fisher, has long since moved on with her life after being denied admission to the university in 2008. She had graduated from her Houston-area high school with a not terribly stellar grade-point average or entrance exam score.

In part to address racial imbalances, the university had a rule guaranteeing admission to students in the top 10 percent of their class. The thinking was that since minorities heavily dominate urban school populations, their presence in the top 10 percent would naturally boost minority enrollment at the college level without specifically setting racial quotas.

Since Fisher didn't graduate in the top 10 percent of her class, she already faced a competitive disadvantage. Among her group of lower-performing applicants, only five black or Hispanic students gained admission, while 42 whites got in ahead of Fisher. Her discrimination case was weak from the start.

In addition, UT Austin has a scoring system that helps admissions personnel make decisions when academic and other criteria are roughly equal among such applicants. Minority status is one item on the score sheet. It's that criterion that gave Fisher, and the activist group that bankrolled her, the basis for a court challenge.

It's the second time since 2013 that the court has heard this case. A big lingering question was whether the university needed an affirmative action plan, since racial representation already reflected the state's population.

Thursday's decision affirms that admissions offices can consider an applicant's race, along with other factors. UT's formula could become the gold standard for future admissions policies across the country.

Fisher has long since graduated from Louisiana State University. Yes, she was denied the opportunity to share in the cherished Austin lifestyle as a UT student, but she now works as a business analyst there. She's doing just fine. Somewhere, however, are minority students whose access to a better life was made possible because of the UT formula.

It was for their futures, not Fisher's, that the court made this landmark decision.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH