Final answer:
The Court rejected the university's affirmative action program in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke because it violated the principle of equal protection. Quotas that separated white and minority applicants into separate groups were deemed unconstitutional, but race could still be considered as one of many factors in admissions decisions.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Court rejected the university's affirmative action program on the grounds that it violated the principle of equal protection. The Court concluded that the university's approach of separating white and minority applicants into two separate groups through the use of quotas was unconstitutional. However, the Court did determine that race could be considered as one of many factors in admissions decisions, as seen in programs like Harvard's.