Harvard racism allegation is invalid
On May 15, a coalition of 64 organizations filed a federal discrimination complaint against one of the most renowned Ivy League colleges, Harvard University. According to the organizations, Harvard discriminated against an unnamed rejected applicant who scored perfectly on standardized tests and was an AP Scholar. In addition to perfect test scores, the applicant was also involved in extracurricular activities such as being a volunteer fundraiser for National Public Radio and the captain of the varsity tennis team. This particular case of rejection of a worthy applicant has been related to the longstanding concern of various organizations about the suspicious admission process and the potential use of the quota system.
The coalition bolstered its allegation by providing admission statistics, claiming that among all the students who applied to the top three Ivy League colleges between 2008 and 2012, more than 27 percent were Asian Americans, and yet they only made up of 17 to 20 percent of admitted students. According to the Atlantic, this disparity is severely unreasonable considering that in 2008, around 46 percent of the applicants were Asian Americans, and the majority of these Asian American applicants had the same credentials as other admitted students.
With such statistical evidence, the coalition managed to compare Harvard’s supposed quota system with the one used in the 20th century to make the college admission process harder for the Jews. In comparing the academic scores of an admitted and a rejected applicant, however, the coalition fails to consider the qualitative information that forms a critical aspect of evaluation during the admissions process
In defense of Harvard, Robert Iuliano, Harvard’s general counsel, stated that “the college considers each applicant through an individualized, holistic review having the goal of creating a vibrant academic community that exposes students to a wide-range of differences: background, ideas, experiences, talents and aspirations.” Additionally, Asian American students continue to comprise a higher percentage of enrolled students than Hispanics, Latinos or African Americans. Therefore, the coalition has a serious reason to reconsider its accusation.
In an interview, Thomas Espenshade, an economist and Princeton University researcher whose research was cited by the coalition, stated that more evidence is required to strengthen the racial discrimination case against Harvard since the admissions process is not just based on the academic success of an applicant. Failure to consider essays or teacher recommendations as possible options for bridging the gap between the admitted and the rejected students is likely to lead to such skeptical assumptions. Furthermore, a growing number of colleges review applications without considering the test scores first. Therefore, the organizations that filed the complaint against Harvard might have overestimated the importance of test scores and failed to recognize other justifiable reasons for a failure to accept the applicant. Applicants can never be sure whether Harvard has rejected perfectly scored applicants based on their ethnicity or based on their essays and recommendations. These other aspects of the applications, however, should be considered for the discrimination case to hold true.
Harvard has, in fact, taken steps to promote diversity. Harvard hosts the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program, which helps to expand the diversity of incoming classes by encouraging minority students to apply to the university. By arranging on-campus and overnight visits, special information sessions and tours, the program ensures that the enrolled students benefit from diversity and have enough opportunities to foster a globalized approach to education and enhance their intelligence.
By realizing the importance of diversity and introducing such programs, Harvard is making an effort to enrich its cultural variety. The level of geographic diversity at Harvard is far above the national average, as shown by its No.10 nationwide geographic diversity ranking. The statistics strongly suggest that Harvard does not practice gender, racial or any other sort of discrimination.
On the university’s end, a possible permanent solution to the doubts of the critics can be found by eliminating the option for students to fill out their ethnic backgrounds in applications. Nevertheless, this might not be enough to silence the critically developed minds of people who manage to spot problems in even the fairest of processes.
I have to agree with bjuardo. Look, quietly, college admissions officers get sick and tired of reviewing applications of students who just achieve high grades and high test scores and with run of the mill personal statement essays. I have grown up around Asians for many years as a suburban-areas elementary, junior high, high school, and college student.
And I have to say like bjuardo intimated, a lot of Asian students that I went/are going to school with were/are obsessed with grades, facts and figures for school, career advancement and little effort to diversify their friend and socialization circles.
Then as a Los Angeles resident, I make constant trips up to East Los Angeles College, USC and UCLA which are schools dominated by Asian students. And the Asian students that go to those schools are afraid to make eye contact with people, you never see them hang out with other students outside their race, and when they get in groups for class they either work alone or only with Asian students.
You have to blame Asian parents for a lot of their own kids lack of diversity. Their parents come from the old school and instill in their kids to go to school and work hard and get a job after or during college; and lacking is their effort to take their kids around people and around cultural events or societies that have nothing to do with Asian culture.
I knew this guy who has a biracial (Black father and White mother) son, and he said he sent his kid to school as a teenager at a school that was predominately Asian students. He said those Asian students ignored his son for about 95 percent of the school year and only mingled mostly with their own race. Stuff like that doesn’t surprise me.
Asian parents and their children have to realize that there is more to life than grades, tests, facts and figures, career advancement, and being insulated in their own Asian culture. Because their success with dealing with the people in the real world and college admissions depends on it.
The Asian community is slowing finding a voice that the black community found long ago in terms of protest and letting their voices be known. Unless the Asian community voices up like it is now, folks will try to use the argument of “holistic” and “well rounded” as a form of denying and legitimizing admissions. Thanks to a study by UCLA, extracirricular and leadership skills between Asians and other groups show no difference. The only way these quotas will stop is when Harvard sees that there will be backlash and consequences and pressure just as the black community has been able to do.
You got to look at it optimistically there, Asian students. First of all, undergrad, whether it be at Harvard or commensurate, doesn’t guarantee you squat wrt jobs. Sure, high profile companies would probably hire a “Harvard” grad over some grad from a lesser school, but these are high profile companies we’re talking about. And high profile companies don’t automatically give you 6-figure job offers with an undergrad degree, just because it’s from a high profile school.
I think Asian students need to build their “social stock” more so than the book-smarts. A lot of Asian people are brought up in an insulated, coddled lifestyle prior to college. There’s no diversity or adversity in their upbringing. Most Asians live in upper middle class to affluent white suburbs. This sort of insular upbringing emotionally stunts you.
The “underrepresented” minorities i.e. blacks and browns who do get admitted to Harvard aren’t the bottom of the barrel applicants. Sure, their academic stats may not be as impressive in contrast to an Asian student’s, but it’s enough to merit them admission.
Asian students, think of the bigger picture. Go to Harvard and commensurate for grad school e.g. law, medical, research, and so forth. Undergrad is overrated.
The Asian community is slowing finding a voice that the black community found long ago in terms of protest and letting their voices be known. Unless the Asian community voices up like it is now, folks will try to use the argument of “holistic” and “well rounded” as a form of denying and legitimizing admissions. Thanks to a study by UCLA, extracirricular and leadership skills between Asians and other groups show no difference.
Face palm*
So if you got into Harvard or commensurate, because admissions looked strictly at the numbers and no “sob stories” (personal statement), then that means your future is propitious? People like you incessantly ignore my message by not repudiating the big picture in all this.
Yeah, protest this indignant matter…..I instead, would take it in stride, go to whatever college accepted me, and look for every angle to experience success. Undergrad is overrated….Yeah, falling on deaf ears again.
Is diversity so great a goal that is should trump judgement? Should it trump a private organization from choosing its members? Why exactly is diversity so great? The most successful socialist countries have nearly zero diversity.