How Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans in college admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, well, well, Here it is right in the early paragraph of the article:

"Asian-Americans scored higher than applicants of any other racial or ethnic group on admissions measures like test scores, grades and extracurricular activities, according to the analysis commissioned by a group that opposes all race-based admissions criteria."

So in order to get more Asians into Harvard this group opposes the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions. That is not the law at the present time, so it will have to be decided by the Supreme Court, but the implication is they have no interest in diversity or equal opportunity for black and Hispanic students. Only themselves.

In order for Harvard to treat people equally, this group opposes race as a factor.

This is clearly a problem and hopefully enough for a judge to rule in favor of Harvard. Amazing that Asians seem to be ok with pushing out blacks and Hispanics in order to increase their chances of admission. No wonder they are rated so low in “positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected."

Amazing that some people think working harder = so low in “positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected.

Amazing that some people think that being black and not as smart should get you in to an elite academic university. See what I did there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Considering race or gender in admissions is NOT OK.

Admissions officers should look at applicants without seeing the names, sex or purported ethnicity of students. If students share info in their personal statements, that's fine because it's their choice.

+1 assign them a number and make it race blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very funny.

Reminds me of all that advice for raped women not to denounce what happened and think "carefully" instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not the right time for a lawsuit like this given the rising anti immigrant sentiment. This lawsuit will be thrown out as it should.

“Rising anti-immigrant sentiment”? Source, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very funny.

Reminds me of all that advice for raped women not to denounce what happened and think "carefully" instead.

It's yet to be demonstrated the Asians were discriminated against (raped). They are being used for ulterior purposes by a group that wants to eliminate affirmative action. When they lose, as I believe they will, it will establish a precedent and private colleges will be even freer to continue with holistic selection methods. Maybe the words "think carefully" sounded like I condone discrimination. I don't. But I would not like to see the elimination of any use of race in college admissions decisions as I think that will only hurt black and Hispanic applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not the right time for a lawsuit like this given the rising anti immigrant sentiment. This lawsuit will be thrown out as it should.

Seems we should fight back then, no? Are you suggesting people just wait and suffer? A lost generation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very funny.

Reminds me of all that advice for raped women not to denounce what happened and think "carefully" instead.

It's yet to be demonstrated the Asians were discriminated against (raped). They are being used for ulterior purposes by a group that wants to eliminate affirmative action. When they lose, as I believe they will, it will establish a precedent and private colleges will be even freer to continue with holistic selection methods. Maybe the words "think carefully" sounded like I condone discrimination. I don't. But I would not like to see the elimination of any use of race in college admissions decisions as I think that will only hurt black and Hispanic applicants.

Wrong. They may lose this lawsuit. It will build them up to file many more and eventually win. Asians have long been discriminated against but have never done much about it until now. It's time to break that "model minority" image and start demanding equal treatment. They will pave the way for other minorities, stuck in the affirmative action loop, which is both useful and demeaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very funny.

Reminds me of all that advice for raped women not to denounce what happened and think "carefully" instead.

It's yet to be demonstrated the Asians were discriminated against (raped). They are being used for ulterior purposes by a group that wants to eliminate affirmative action. When they lose, as I believe they will, it will establish a precedent and private colleges will be even freer to continue with holistic selection methods. Maybe the words "think carefully" sounded like I condone discrimination. I don't. But I would not like to see the elimination of any use of race in college admissions decisions as I think that will only hurt black and Hispanic applicants.

It's way beyond reasonable doubt that Asian Americans are being raped by admission offices every day, every week, every year.

Signed.

Not Asian American

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very funny.

Reminds me of all that advice for raped women not to denounce what happened and think "carefully" instead.

It's yet to be demonstrated the Asians were discriminated against (raped). They are being used for ulterior purposes by a group that wants to eliminate affirmative action. When they lose, as I believe they will, it will establish a precedent and private colleges will be even freer to continue with holistic selection methods. Maybe the words "think carefully" sounded like I condone discrimination. I don't. But I would not like to see the elimination of any use of race in college admissions decisions as I think that will only hurt black and Hispanic applicants.

Wrong. They may lose this lawsuit. It will build them up to file many more and eventually win. Asians have long been discriminated against but have never done much about it until now. It's time to break that "model minority" image and start demanding equal treatment. They will pave the way for other minorities, stuck in the affirmative action loop, which is both useful and demeaning.

+1 Look what happened in Ca with Prop 209. Asian Americans are starting to make their voices heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, well, well, Here it is right in the early paragraph of the article:

"Asian-Americans scored higher than applicants of any other racial or ethnic group on admissions measures like test scores, grades and extracurricular activities, according to the analysis commissioned by a group that opposes all race-based admissions criteria."

So in order to get more Asians into Harvard this group opposes the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions. That is not the law at the present time, so it will have to be decided by the Supreme Court, but the implication is they have no interest in diversity or equal opportunity for black and Hispanic students. Only themselves.

In order for Harvard to treat people equally, this group opposes race as a factor.

This is clearly a problem and hopefully enough for a judge to rule in favor of Harvard. Amazing that Asians seem to be ok with pushing out blacks and Hispanics in order to increase their chances of admission. No wonder they are rated so low in “positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected."

Amazing that some people think working harder = so low in “positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected.

Amazing that some people think that being black and not as smart should get you in to an elite academic university. See what I did there.

Amazing that the person who wrote this must have been one of the "not as smart" people based on the extremely poor writing. See what I did there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the right time for a lawsuit like this given the rising anti immigrant sentiment. This lawsuit will be thrown out as it should.

Seems we should fight back then, no? Are you suggesting people just wait and suffer? A lost generation?

PP is saying Asians should keep sitting at the back of the bus where they belong and stop being so uppity. Harvard is for white folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, well, well, Here it is right in the early paragraph of the article:

"Asian-Americans scored higher than applicants of any other racial or ethnic group on admissions measures like test scores, grades and extracurricular activities, according to the analysis commissioned by a group that opposes all race-based admissions criteria."

So in order to get more Asians into Harvard this group opposes the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions. That is not the law at the present time, so it will have to be decided by the Supreme Court, but the implication is they have no interest in diversity or equal opportunity for black and Hispanic students. Only themselves.

In order for Harvard to treat people equally, this group opposes race as a factor.

This is clearly a problem and hopefully enough for a judge to rule in favor of Harvard. Amazing that Asians seem to be ok with pushing out blacks and Hispanics in order to increase their chances of admission. No wonder they are rated so low in “positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected."

Amazing that some people think working harder = so low in “positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected.

Amazing that some people think that being black and not as smart should get you in to an elite academic university. See what I did there.

Amazing that the person who wrote this must have been one of the "not as smart" people based on the extremely poor writing. See what I did there?

No, you don't make sense at all. I pity you.

[Anonymous]

I think its clearly terrible if colleges are grading Asians down on the soft skills bc of bias. Do they have criteria for how they rate things like "positive personality" or other non-academic attributes. It is 100% valid to consider these traits for admissions but they have a process for doing do that isnt lets cut out students we dont like to favor white ppl.

At the same time the argument that the only way for Harvard to have an unbiased admissions is to "considered only academic achievement" is clearly off. The system we have looks beyond academics bc wider world does too (including ever office ive been in).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/harvard-asian-enrollment-applicants.html

Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than any other race on personal traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” according to an analysis of more than 160,000 student records filed Friday in federal court in Boston by a group representing Asian-American students in a lawsuit against the university.

Harvard’s own researchers cited a bias against Asian-American applicants in a series of internal reports in 2013. But Harvard ignored the findings, the court papers said, and never publicly released them.

On summary sheets, Asian-American applicants were much more likely than other races to be described as “standard strong,” meaning lacking special qualities that would warrant admission, even though they were more academically qualified, the plaintiffs said. They were 25 percent more likely than white applicants to receive that rating. They were also described as “busy and bright” in their admissions files, the plaintiffs said.

Alumni interviewers give Asian-Americans personal ratings comparable to those of whites. But the admissions office gives them the worst scores of any racial group, often without even meeting them

Harvard’s 2013 internal review found that if Harvard considered only academic achievement, the Asian-American share of the class would rise to 43 percent from the actual 19 percent. After accounting for Harvard’s preference for recruited athletes and legacy applicants, the proportion of whites went up, while the share of Asian-Americans fell to 31 percent. Accounting for extracurricular and personal ratings, the share of whites rose again, and Asian-Americans fell to 26 percent.

What brought the Asian-American number down to roughly 18 percent, or about the actual share, was accounting for a category called “demographic,” the study found. This pushed up African-American and Hispanic numbers, while reducing whites and Asian-Americans.

Great journalism and summary. thanks for reading through the court papers so fast and getting it into the Associated Press/ NYTimes.

I suspect more colleges and magnet programs will get the same subpoenas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think its clearly terrible if colleges are grading Asians down on the soft skills bc of bias. Do they have criteria for how they rate things like "positive personality" or other non-academic attributes. It is 100% valid to consider these traits for admissions but they have a process for doing do that isnt lets cut out students we dont like to favor white ppl.

At the same time the argument that the only way for Harvard to have an unbiased admissions is to "considered only academic achievement" is clearly off. The system we have looks beyond academics bc wider world does too (including ever office ive been in).

Nobody wants to consider only academic achievement. Admissions need to be race and gender-blind.

It's like the auditions for the greatest orchestras. They used to be composed of nearly 100% men. Do you know what happened when they put up screens between the judges and applicants, and placed carpets on the floor to hide the sound of high heels? The number of women shot up to nearly half the number of accepted candidates.
All because the top people realized they were leaving an untapped pool of talent behind them.

It's high time universities realized that non-whites represent a vast sources of skill and talent that should be put to use. No more affirmative action. The admissions office should not know how the candidate appears (sex, ethnicity, etc), so they can concentrate on who they really are.