Harvard defends admission policy as Asian-American bias trial ends

[rooster59]

Harvard defends admission policy as Asian-American bias trial ends

By Ted Siefer and Nate Raymond

 

FILE PHOTO: A seal hangs over a building at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., November 16, 2012. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi//File Photo

 

BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University defended its admissions policies on Friday against a group accusing it of discriminating against Asian-American applicants in the closing arguments of a trial that could change the role of race in U.S. college admissions.

 

The case in federal court in Boston has pitted the Ivy League school against Students for Fair Admissions, or SFFA, which was founded by an activist opposed to affirmative action policies.

 

The SFFA's complaint against Harvard is backed by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

 

The non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs has provided a rare look into how the private university chooses about 1,600 students each year from about 40,000 applicants.

 

John Hughes, a lawyer for SFFA, argued to the judge that admissions data from Harvard showed a strong pattern of bias against Asian-Americans, particularly in terms of so-called "personal ratings," a measure of abstract qualities such as leadership skills and friendliness.

 

"That Asian-Americans get worse personal ratings year after year is pretty strong evidence that racial bias has crept into the system," Hughes said.

 

Harvard's lawyers conceded that Asian-Americans indeed had on average received lower personal rating scores in recent years, but maintained this was only one of many factors considered in admissions.

 

Asian-Americans on average scored higher than other racial groups on some factors, they said.

 

The plaintiffs had narrowly focused on the personal score in order to find the "Asian penalty" they were looking for, Seth Waxman, one of Harvard's lawyers, argued.

 

SFFA's lawyers said they expected a ruling from the judge between December and March 2019.

 

Legal experts have said the case has the potential to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, giving the newly-cemented five-member conservative majority a chance to bar the use of affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college.

 

In previous rulings on affirmative action, which aims to offset historic patterns of racial discrimination, the Supreme Court allowed colleges to include race as one factor among others in assessing applicants.

 

But SFFA alleges Harvard went further than the court has allowed by engaging in "racial balancing," and keeping Asian-American admissions at or under 20 percent annually in the years before SFFA sued in 2014.

 

Harvard, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, denies the allegations and says its approach to promoting student body diversity is in keeping with Supreme Court precedent.

 

SFFA is headed by Edward Blum, an activist involved in other cases that have challenged the use of race in college admissions.

 

The U.S. Justice Department launched a related investigation of Harvard after Trump became president last year. It has backed SFFA's case, saying Harvard has not seriously considered race-neutral approaches to admissions.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-03

[car720]

Well, let's face it, it's not Cambridge after all, is it?

[Number 6]

10 minutes ago, car720 said:

Well, let's face it, it's not Cambridge after all, is it?

? Where mainland Chinese fill the ranks that would otherwise be left vacant by UK Nationals? No, the world is still driven to US universities.

 

Antifa smpathizers please take note of administration's backing.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Number 6

[car720]

1 minute ago, Number 6 said:

? Where mainland Chinese fill the ranks that would otherwise be left vacant by UK Nationals? No, the world is still driven to US universities.

 

[alex8912]

58 minutes ago, car720 said:

Well, let's face it, it's not Cambridge after all, is it?

Yes it’s the Cambridge that EVERYONE in the world knows. Cambridge Massachusetts. Driving around Harvard’s and M.I.T’s campuses it’s really hard to believe that the number of Asian students isn’t something near fifty percent! 

[soistalker]

While I think it's not fair to put a limit on Asians at Harvard, other factor should be taken into account. Asians tend to keep to themselves at school. They don't really add anything to university. They are not really part of the community of students. 

Universities see looking for well-rounded students. That's just not most Asian kids 

 

[sqwakvfr]

 

Wow.  Such an expert on Asian Students in America. “Asians tend to keep to themselves.  They don’t really add anything to university”.  They pay tuition, attend class and graduate.  When I went to college as an Asian American academic achievement(you know silly things like GPA and SAT) were the criteria for admission.  But I guess other things like “being social” are also important.  Of course what is the standard for being “social”. Also, why do you think some Asian stick together in Universities?  Because of the kind of beliefs expressed by the previous poster.  

[soistalker]

12 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

 

Wow.  Such an expert on Asian Students in America. “Asians tend to keep to themselves.  They don’t really add anything to university”.  They pay tuition, attend class and graduate.  When I went to college as an Asian American academic achievement(you know silly things like GPA and SAT) were the criteria for admission.  But I guess other things like “being social” are also important.  Of course what is the standard for being “social”. Also, why do you think some Asian stick together in Universities?  Because of the kind of beliefs expressed by the previous poster.  

I'm from a city where 35% of the population are Asians. In high school, you either hung out with blacks and whites or you were Asian, and hung out in groups of Asians. In high school, through university, if you were white or black and you were in a group, it was mixed. If you were to a party, there was a wide range of peoples there. But not many Asians. They self-segregate. Nothing wrong with that. A high GPA and SAT scores are wonderful. But schools are looking for all-rounded individuals. High grades and high rest scores but few or no extracurricular activities and no volunteer work? Enjoy that bubble.

 

[milwaukeeboy]

In this case, Asians have just become collateral damage in the war against Whites.

[Kurtf]

Well to me Universities are supposed to be organizations of “higher learning”. That sounds to me like the most intelligent. NOTHING todo with social skills. You want greater social skills, go to a liberal arts college and get a degree in basket weaving. Institutes of higher learning should be pumping out the most intelligent engineers and doctors. I don’t give a rats ass about the social skills of the person designing a road or a new computer or of my heart surgeon.

[Caldera]

2 hours ago, soistalker said:

While I think it's not fair to put a limit on Asians at Harvard, other factor should be taken into account. Asians tend to keep to themselves at school. They don't really add anything to university. They are not really part of the community of students. 

Universities see looking for well-rounded students. That's just not most Asian kids 

 

That's nonsense. I went to college in California and many of my fellow students were Asians (Asian Americans as well as Asian foreigners). They were very much part of the community, and whenever you felt like needing a snack past midnight, you could always get some noodle soup at our dorm thanks to them. They also covered for me when I had to go on a trip and project work was due, just like my fellow Caucasian students would.

 

From my experience, those who didn't like them (as a group, I mean) were mostly underachievers who felt intimidated by their drive and smarts.

[nodomino]

The addition of ‘social skills’ to the list of attributes for admission to Harvard is simply a cloak to deny applicants for their race. The defense 

by the school that those assessments are anything else but that is a 

obvious and indefensible lie. What would be helpful for the community of ‘sociables’ would be an acceptance of TRUTH being the paramount value for the community and the Supreme Virtue of the individual.  Then maybe

that overvalued institution could provide a real contribution toward the grandiose purpose they proclaim.

[tfc]

IMHO at this level of education "adding anything to the university" should be less important than what the student, based on their own ability and merit, is going to be able to contribute to society after they've left university.  If they're accepting and rejecting based on racial quotas not merit and we've got brain surgeons who were accepted to medical school with 10-20% less requirements and others who had to achieve 10-20% more, I know who I'd want operating on me.  Furthermore, imagine being the person who's race can be accepted with 10-20% less but been one who was able to be accepted due to normal or higher self-achievement.  There would be some annoyance at the unspoken prejudice that "er I won't pick that surgeon because they were just let in.  I want the one who is 120% operating on my brain."

[IAMHERE]

No wonder POTUS does not want those Chinese coming to America to give birth and then haul their offspring back to China to be raised with an American passport. Thirty thousand birthers per year seems a lot.

[Chomper Higgot]

11 hours ago, tfc said:

IMHO at this level of education "adding anything to the university" should be less important than what the student, based on their own ability and merit, is going to be able to contribute to society after they've left university.  If they're accepting and rejecting based on racial quotas not merit and we've got brain surgeons who were accepted to medical school with 10-20% less requirements and others who had to achieve 10-20% more, I know who I'd want operating on me.  Furthermore, imagine being the person who's race can be accepted with 10-20% less but been one who was able to be accepted due to normal or higher self-achievement.  There would be some annoyance at the unspoken prejudice that "er I won't pick that surgeon because they were just let in.  I want the one who is 120% operating on my brain."

“I want the one who is 120% operating on my brain."

 

You do know what a percentage is don’t you?!

[car720]

21 hours ago, alex8912 said:

Yes it’s the Cambridge that EVERYONE in the world knows. Cambridge Massachusetts. Driving around Harvard’s and M.I.T’s campuses it’s really hard to believe that the number of Asian students isn’t something near fifty percent! 

Ok, forgetting about the cross pond rivalry for a moment, the most staggering thing is how even the hallowed universities these days have thrown all tradition to the wind in favour of the almighty Asian dollar.