Harvard on Trial: Key to Harvard admissions are "unquantifiable" factors

IF NOTHING ELSE, the trial to determine whether or not Harvard is biased against Asian applicants, is opening a window to a process that up until now, has been highly guarded .

Several Harvard officials involved in the determining who gets in and who doesn't meet the undefined standards for admissions took the witness stand.

Harvard's Director of Research for Admissions and Financial Aid Erica J. Bever and Erin Driver-Linn — the Harvard School of Public Health Dean for Education, pointed out flaws in the 2013 report pointing out bias toward Asian American applicants and recommended actions to the apparent discrimination.

The 2013 report done by Harvard's Office of Institutional Research left out many variables that are not quantifiable, said Bever. Variables might include the personal essay required of applicants or artistic talent.

“There’s a negative effect of being Asian on an applicant’s choice of admission, correct? That means an applicant’s choice of admission is lower?” asked Kat Hacker, a lawyer for plaintiff Students for Fair Admissions.

Driver-Linn conceded, “In this model, yes.” However, she also emphasized the report's inadequacies and the numerous unquantifiable variables were not considered.

The officials' testimony didn't uncover any more bombshells that marked the first few days of the trial that began Monday.

In testimony from Harvard officials and data gathered from the school, it was learned that applicants with ties to wealthy or prominent donors were given special consideration. It was also revealed that the percentage of Asian American applications actually went down over a 18 year period that began with data from 2000.

The lawsuit was filed by Students for Fair Admissions claiming that there was an institutional bias against Asian Americans. The trial is expected to last two more weeks.

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