Harvard University's affirmative action policies, which the school says are aimed at achieving diversity on the vaunted campus of Cambridge, discriminate against Asians who often can't get in despite having higher test scores and grade-point averages than black and Hispanic students who are accepted, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
Edward Blum, who runs the Project on Fair Representation, which filed the suit on behalf of Asian students who were rejected by the school, said it is a clear case of favoring certain racial groups over others.
“Quotas and racial balancing are strictly against the law,” said Blum, whose group sued the University of Texas on behalf of a white applicant over its affirmative action admissions policies in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
In the Texas case, the high court reversed a lower court's ruling in that case and remanded it with orders to apply the standard of strict scrutiny to the school's race-conscious admissions policy. That decision is pending, but the Harvard case is different because it focuses on affirmative action’s negative impact on a minority group.
The lawsuit cites a 2009 study by Princeton sociologists that concluded that while the average Asian American applicant needed a much higher 1460 SAT score to be admitted, a white student with similar GPA and other qualifications only needed a score of 1320, while blacks needed 1010 and Hispanics 1190.
The scores reflect the fact that Asians as a whole score higher than any other group on the SAT, so if a college wanted to avoid having a disproportionately high number of Asian enrollees, it might have to hold them to a higher standard.
The student plaintiffs remain anonymous, but the lawsuit notes that their qualifications were above average and yet they were rejected. The group is looking for additional student plaintiffs on their website, and has also filed suit against UNC Chapel Hill for discriminating against both whites and Asians.
Harvard defended its admissions policy in an e-mailed statement to FoxNews.com.
“The College considers each applicant through an individualized, holistic review having the goal of creating a vibrant academic community that exposes students to a wide-range of differences: background, ideas, experiences, talents and aspirations,” wrote Robert Iuliano, Harvard's general counsel.
He added that the policy is legal.
“The University’s admissions processes remain fully compliant with all legal requirements and are essential to the pedagogical objectives that underlie Harvard’s educational mission,” he wrote.
Others also defended the university’s diversity policy.
“Asian-American students benefit greatly from attending the racially and socio-economically diverse campuses that affirmative action helps create,” Julie Park, assistant professor of education at the University of Maryland and author of the book “When Diversity Drops,” told FoxNews.com.
This has been going on for years; I first heard about it from a step-daughter going to high school at a special campus for high achievers in the San Francisco Unified School District. Same story: the district was limiting the number of Chinese students so there would be room left for a few other races.
ReplyDeleteI have a suggestion: how about the Asians of the United States (who have the highest average household income in the US) get together and found their own university, and make it better than Harvard? This is well within both their economic and academic wherewithal. Or, better yet realize that the current must-have college degree frenzy is another bubble scam about to burst, and there are other ways of getting educated.
"Holistic review"? They just gave an admitted illegal alien a full scholarship, just because. Harvard is nothing more than an over priced day care center.
ReplyDeleteI think anything government or government-related should be 100% out of the race business. Favoring one race over another is not fair to individuals and their efforts. That means zero statistics collected about race. The only reason for collecting them is intended discrimination. On the other hand, if, as Tom suggests below, Asians (or any other group) wanted to set up an exclusive private university that discriminates for their own kind, it should certainly be allowed. Why not? Fair's fair. Why should government racial discrimination be sacrosanct?
ReplyDeleteWhat is ironic Blum's people, despite being 2% of US popn,, are some 25%+ of Harvard's enrollment (as well as other Ivy League schools). When is this going to be questioned?
ReplyDelete"Asian-American
ReplyDeletestudents benefit greatly from attending the racially and
socio-economically diverse campuses that affirmative action helps
create,”
This is a religious statement.