Notable & Quotable: Affirmative Action

Notable & Quotable: Affirmative Action

“Harvard’s admissions system has a disproportionately negative effect on Asian-American applicants.”

From a lawsuit filed Monday by Students for Fair Admissions Inc. against Harvard College in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, Boston Division:

Harvard’s admissions system has a disproportionately negative effect on Asian-American applicants for admission that is not explainable on grounds other than intentional discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity. As the statistical evidence demonstrates, Asian Americans are underrepresented at Harvard in relation to their share of the applicant pool and are massively underrepresented in relation to the share of the highly qualified portion of Harvard’s applicant pool. Asian Americans represent roughly 46 percent of the highly qualified portion of Harvard’s applicant pool, yet they represent only about 17 percent of those admitted and/or enrolled at Harvard over a multi-year period. . . .

Harvard has a long and unfortunate history of intentional discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, including a history of intentional discrimination against Asian Americans. The Harvard Plan itself is a product of admissions policies created to advance an invidious purpose. Harvard has a history of using the rubric of “holistic” admissions in general, and the Harvard Plan in particular, to limit the admission of Jewish applicants and other minority groups. Indeed, Harvard is using the same pretextual excuses to justify its disparate treatment of Asian Americans that it used to deny that it was discriminating against Jewish applicants in the past.

From the Wall Street Journal