Posted on 08/06/2017 6:16:42 PM PDT by TigerClaws
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Justice Department inquiry into how race influences admissions at Harvard University has left selective colleges bracing for new scrutiny of practices that have helped boost diversity levels to new highs across the Ivy League.
Harvard and other top-tier colleges closely guard the inner workings of their admissions offices, but they defend approaches that consider an applicant's race among other factors as a way to bring a diverse mix of perspectives to campus. While the schools believe they are on firm legal ground, experts say the investigation could inspire new challenges.
"They're pulling the scab off a wound that was healing," said Anthony Carnevale, who has studied affirmative action programs and leads Georgetown University's Center for Education and the Workforce. "This could erupt in a bunch more cases."
At the eight Ivy League colleges including Harvard, Yale and Princeton, the number of U.S. minority students in all incoming classes grew by 17 percent between 2010 and 2015, while overall enrollment in those classes grew by less than 2 percent, according to the latest federal data. By 2015, minorities accounted for more than 43 percent of all incoming students in the Ivy League, up from 37 percent in 2010.
The trend partly reflects the demographics of an increasingly diverse nation, but the schools also consider race for reasons including a desire to reverse historically low numbers of minorities at elite universities that in some cases began admitting nonwhite students only in the last 75 years.
"We're aiming for diversity on our campus and we're achieving it," said Christopher Eisgruber, president of Princeton University. "Universities have a compelling interest in pursuing diversity in their student bodies through a holistic assessment of factors."
Eisgruber said he is not surprised by the "continuing political controversy," but it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the Justice Department investigation.
At Brown University, the inquiry was a topic of discussion last week, school spokesman Brian Clark said.
"The courts have held that colleges and universities may act affirmatively to achieve the educational goals at the core of our academic excellence at Brown," Clark said in a statement. "Through our race-conscious admission practices, Brown assembles the diverse range of perspectives and experiences essential for a learning and research community that prepares students to thrive in a complex and changing world."
Word of the investigation startled some who thought the affirmative action debate was settled after the U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas. That case was brought by a white student who contended she was rejected from the school while black students with lower grades were admitted.
In the Harvard case, investigators are looking into a 2015 complaint brought by a coalition of 64 Asian-American groups that allege the school uses racial quotas to admit students and discriminates against Asian-Americans by holding them to a higher standard. The Justice Department said it's revisiting the case because it was left unresolved by the previous administration.
Harvard said its practices are legally sound.
"Harvard remains committed to enrolling diverse classes of students," Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane said. "Harvard's admissions process considers each applicant as a whole person, and we review many factors, consistent with the legal standards established by the U.S. Supreme Court."
Despite the growth in the nonwhite student populations, the schools acknowledge their diversity efforts are aimed largely at drawing students from underrepresented races and ethnicities, a category that often includes blacks and Latinos but not Asian-American students.
Princeton's Eisgruber said the last decade has seen a significant increase in the number of Asian-American students on campus, while growth among other minorities has been "more modest." The trend has been similar across the Ivy League, where U.S. minority students other than Asian-Americans made up only 24 percent of incoming students in 2015. By contrast, those minority groups made up 35 percent of the U.S. population last year, according to Census estimates.
Some who oppose race-conscious policies have said they're encouraged by the Justice Department's inquiry, while supporters see it as political posturing by President Donald Trump's administration. Still, some advocates fear there could be a chilling effect among schools that will wonder if they'll face scrutiny next.
Natasha Warikoo, a scholar of race and education at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, said research has indicated some schools already have been backing away from race-conscious policies.
"I think that has to do with the legal context and this fear of being hit with a lawsuit, and the Justice Department just adds a layer to that," Warikoo said.
Others said the Supreme Court has set a clear precedent upholding colleges' right to consider race.
"The foundations are set and they are longstanding," said Art Coleman, managing partner of the Education Counsel consulting firm and a former deputy assistant Secretary of the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton. "My hope is that it would do nothing to affect institutions that are pursuing issues of diversity and inclusion on campus."
More than half a century after the “I have a dream...” speech we’re going to start judging “not on the color of...skin but on the content of ...character”.
FINALLY!
MAGA!
Yes. The Ivies cherry-pick those relatively few, high-acheiving black kids who do not come from the inner city. I knew a boy, child of Nigerian doctors, who did well at school and did well on SAT's - had offers to 5 Ivies. I knew several Chinese boys, same year, who had better grades and SATs, and didn't get accepted to even one Ivy.
I have several close friends who are "mixed" married couples. One spouse is an American-born white person and the other is of European descent but was born in Latin America. Most of their kids are so fair-skinned that they make Scandinavians look swarthy, but you can be damn sure they're checking off that "Hispanic" box when it comes time for college admissions and job applications.
Personally, I think this is the kind of thing that will put an end to affirmative action faster than any legislation or court ruling.
And what makes the Admissions office think that diverse skin tones means diverse perspectives?
They should be recruiting traditionalist Catholics and Orthodox Christians and Jews in that case, Fundamentalists, conservative Evangelicals and Alt-Rights. By which I mean, undergraduates to the right of the RNC and National Review.
63% — Asian student college graduation rate
62% — White college graduation rate
46% — Hispanic college graduation rate
39% — Black college graduation rate
They just keep packing colleges with black and Hispanic students most of whom are doomed to fail because they don’t have college level study habits and math and reading skills.
The problem is not shoving unprepared minorities through college so they can just drop out. The problem is preparing black and Hispanic high schools by instilling the skills and study habits they need to succeed in college.
But liberals think any outcome can be forced through compassion. They are so flaming stupid. Conservatives live in the real worlds and realize it is not compassionate to take unprepared people and set them up to fail in college where they don’t yet belong without remedial skills training.
Liberals often start off well but eventually ruin everything they touch.
Source: For the First Time, Most of Harvard’s Incoming Class Is Non-White
The quality of Ivy League graduates has taken an extreme nose dive over the last few decades. This is a big part of the reason why.
“The difference is that they have been doing it so they can unlawfully discriminate for blacks and against non-blacks.”
This is true. They let in a guy from Occidental College and his grades have never been viewed by anyone publicly so as to judge his qualifications. In fact, the guy may have claimed to be an import thereby gaining some extra points. This guy subsequently entered the Law School and became the Editor of the Law Review, all under very shady circumstances.
Our new, enlightened dear NWO leaders have graciously created the new position of “kapo” for those Europeans who wish extra privileges and a chance to delay their own appointment with the crematorium ovens if they are willing to prey upon their own people.
I used to think it was dishonest and maybe slightly immoral to do something like that. It still bothers me greatly, but now I am more inclined to think it is foolish not to.
A sad state of affairs. Drain the swamp. Prosecute the referees who aid and abet the cheaters.
Lotta talk on minority admission rates.
No mention of minority graduation rates.
Getting in and taking on the debt is the easy part.
Who cares, if that's the case. It only helps expose the whole thing as a farce anyway.
Excellent point.
This seems to be a common democrat tactic. They change the rules of the game, then get mad when the other team wins by playing by those rules.
Think of the billions of tax dollars spent financing these ill-prepared students before they drop out of the colleges that should not have admitted them.
Diversity = discrimination against white males.
“This is true. They let in a guy from Occidental College and his grades have never been viewed by anyone publicly so as to judge his qualifications. In fact, the guy may have claimed to be an import thereby gaining some extra points. This guy subsequently entered the Law School and became the Editor of the Law Review, all under very shady circumstances.”
So, whatever became of him? Probably chasing ambulances in Las Vegas now! ;)
... their institutions will no longer even be considered high quality in a few years.
************************************
As a Manager at a major defense contractor in the ‘80s-’90s, I had to interview job candidates sent to me by the idiots in HR. ...Those from Stanford, Harvard, etc., applying for jobs always had salary requirements above what was being paid to people with 15 years of experience in our discipline that had Supervisory responsibility.
The fools had been hoodwinked by the hype from their schools that they could command top dollar on the job market.
At one time in history, the Ivies may have been considered top notch. That’s no longer true! The schools now care more about getting those huge tuition/housing dollars and grants from the government than they do about any of the students.
I had a co-worker admit to me that, because our HR dept. was stupid enough to include a block on the job application that said “Native American”, he checked that block.
He was not an American Indian. The stupid HR and PC people don’t understand that everyone born in America is a Native American.
I believe that helped him achieve some promotions, however.
I for one am ready to sit back and watch the show. I'm not the one who will be wearing a berka or being whipped for “being out of place”.
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