Posted on 11/28/2017 10:00:06 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
The U.S. Justice Department finally is confronting Harvard University and other elite colleges that blatantly discriminate against Asian-American applicants with a quota system. To get into Harvard, students of Asian heritage have to score hundreds of points higher on competitive exams than non-Asian applicants with similar or even inferior academic records. That's why the Trump administration's Justice Department is demanding Harvard's admissions records and launching an investigation. No surprise that Harvard is stonewalling. The university has plenty to hide.
Harvard's quota system is destroying the American dream for countless Asian families across the nation. Often new to the country and struggling economically, these parents make sacrifices for their children's education and encourage their children to study diligently. It pays off. For example Asian students make up 60 percent of the students in New York City's highly competitive specialized public high schools, like Stuyvesant and Bronx High School of Science.
But Harvard is shutting its door to many of them. As the number of Asian-American college applicants with top academic credentials soared over the last two decades, Harvard has kept acceptances at around 20 percent of each entering class. Harvard doesn't admit that, but the proof is in plain sight.
In 2014, Harvard was sued by Students for Fair Admissions, an advocacy group of mostly first generation Asian-Americans, including parents of high school students striving to qualify for Ivy League admissions. Their lawsuit claims that the rigid racial makeup of every Harvard class -- with fixed percentages of whites, Hispanics and blacks -- is the result of an illegal quota system and insidious discrimination.
In states like California that bar affirmative action in public college admissions, the soaring number of college-age Asian-Americans has led to a rapid increase in their presence on competitive campuses. Asian-American students now win nearly half the places at California Institute of Technology, up from only a quarter in 1992. But not so at Harvard -- proof, according to Students for Fair Admissions, of a secret quota.
The Students for Fair Admissions lawsuit also cites Harvard admissions officials stereotyping Asian applicants. One official described an applicant as "quiet, and of course, he wants to be a doctor." Harvard seems to pigeonhole Asian students as math and science grinds who add little to campus life.
Harvard has spent millions of dollars on legal maneuvers and court filings, trying unsuccessfully to get the lawsuit dismissed and to shield the college's "holistic" admissions process from scrutiny. But a federal judge is compelling the college to hand over six years of admissions records. Stuyvesant, Boston Latin, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia and Monta Vista in California -- all Harvard "feeder schools" -- were also subpoenaed to provide information. This lawsuit is expected to be tried in Boston late in 2018, but no doubt will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Don't count on the high court to back up Harvard's use of racial preferences to achieve campus diversity. Last year, the Justices split 4-3, when they half-heartedly allowed the University of Texas at Austin to consider race as one of many factors contributing to student body diversity. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, struck an uncertain tone, suggesting the issue would need to be revisited, and Justice Samuel Alito specifically cited discrimination against Asian-American applicants as a problem.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's Justice Department is pulling no punches. In response to a complaint from more than 60 Asian-American groups alleging discrimination at Harvard, civil rights lawyers at Justice are demanding to see admissions records. So far, Harvard has not produced a single document. The Justice Department has imposed a final deadline of Dec. 1, and is threatening to sue the university.
Harvard's racial quota system is indefensible. Fortunately, its days are numbered, because finally we have a Justice Department willing to fight for colorblind fairness in college admissions.
I love this President.
WINNING!
A guy from my high school won a full ride to Harvard. Too bad.. He was a bright kid. 1/4 Japanese, I believe.
Harvard, Yale , Stanford and MIT should accept students not on race, but only on merit.
Students with the best test scores should get into the best schools.
Why is Trump doing this when he has done nothing to stop anti-white discrimination?
Who would want to go to harward anyway? Serious question.
‘Why is Trump doing this when he has done nothing to stop anti-white discrimination?’
Because President Trump believes that only the best students should go to the best schools.
Why would anyone question that?
Brand recognition.
Your answer has nothing to do with my question.
Employability and a very high wage and lots of connections.
All we ask is that everyone is treated fairly under the law.
The entire race/ethnicity above qualifications thing needs to be squished like a bug.
It’s an easy question.
Do well in school, test well and you can go to any school you like.
That’s the way it should be and schools should never consider race in the admissions process.
"Holistic" - fancy word to cover up racial discrimination. If their admission process is so "holistic", why do they need to protect it from scrutiny?
Top universities should admit based on merit and achievement and not on the color of one's skin.
“Do well in school, test well and you can go to any school you like.
That’s the way it should be and schools should never consider race in the admissions process.”
Ah, but that is the source of all the race problems, and the elephant in the room that everybody is afraid to notice.
If they did what you suggest, how many blacks do you think would be attending Harvard, Stanford, Yale, etc?
And what do you think the reaction of other blacks and leftist whites would be?
And if jobs were also allocated strictly on merit, who would occupy most of the menial jobs, and what would be the reaction to that state of affairs?
They “holistically” ensure that they never go above a certain % of Asian-American acceptances.
Why? Because they want to “holistically” ensure certain numbers of black acceptances.
They simply mask what they are doing by not so subtly claiming it is not based upon quotas. It just happens to end up looking awfully close to quotas, “holistically” speaking.
“I don’t care if every seat is filled by an Asian if they’ve earned the right to be there.” - Ronald Reagan as then-California Governor
>And if jobs were also allocated strictly on merit, who would occupy most of the menial jobs, and what would be the reaction to that state of affairs?
Why should I care about their reaction?
This is a back door to accomplishing exactly that.
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