The Problem

As a student with a near-perfect SAT score and involved in several extracurriculars, Austin Jia was fairly confident that he would be admitted into Harvard. However, unlike his peers who received lower marks than he did, he was rejected from his college of choice. Since then, Jia has accused Harvard of discriminating against Asian Americans in admissions and preferencing racial minorities [1].

It is common when looking at the admissions process to see that minorities with lesser qualifications to beat out Asian students because of the college’s desire to create a more demographically diverse environment.

In 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the affirmative action program at the University of Texas at Austin. The premise of the program, similar to Harvard’s affirmative action program, is to “build a diverse class with multiple dimensions.”

Justice Kennedy approved of the university’s ability to define “intangible characteristics, like student body diversity, that are central to its identity and educational mission” [2].

The phrase, “intangible characteristics,” implies that a college can determine admittance based upon abstract qualities o individualizing ability (which Asians tend to lack). Regardless of the test scores or extracurriculars on paper, if a college’s mission to achieve diversity is central to its admissions process, Asian Americans can have a difficult time entering high-ranking colleges.

 

[1] Saul, Anemona Hartocollis And Stephanie. “Affirmative Action Battle Has a New Focus: Asian-Americans.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/us/affirmative-action-battle-has-a-new-focus-asian-americans.html/

[2] Gersen, Jeannie Suk. “The Uncomfortable Truth About Affirmative Action and Asian-Americans.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2017, www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-affirmative-action-and-asian-americans.