CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — A group representing Asian-American students has filed a lawsuit against Harvard, citing discriminatory admissions practices.
According to court documents, Students for Fair Admissions commissioned an analysis of applicant records from 2014 to 2019, and found that Asian-Americans were consistently rated lower than others on personality traits, despite having high SAT scores, GPAs and full extracurriculars.
In the 1920s, Harvard and other Ivy League schools used the same subjective criteria to limit the number of Jewish students. Now Asians are getting the Jewish treatment and are being given low personal ratings to hurt their chances of getting in.
Duke University economist Peter Arcidiacono, the expert who conducted the analysis for Students for Fair Admissions, says the low scores were from admissions officers who've often never even seen the students in the flesh. Meanwhile, alumni interviewers who actually met the applicants consistently gave top marks.
Students for Fair Admissions alleges that Harvard knew what was up. The university's own internal investigation in 2013 revealed a biased system. But instead of addressing the issue, it axed the investigation and buried the reports.
The school has denied the allegations, defending their process as "holistic" and claiming that Students for Fair Admissions cherry-picked variables from the admissions data to fit their cause.
At the end of the day, it could be argued that Harvard admissions only wants what's best for the school, but if that involves racial discrimination, then obviously there's something wrong.
