Harvard on Trial: Plaintiff's expert witness grilled

SCREEN CAPTURE

Harvard is popular among Asian American students and visitors.

PETER S. ARCIDIACONO, Duke economist and expert witness of Students for Fair Admissions, the group accusing Harvard of anti-Asian bias, took the witness stand Thursday (Oct. 25) morning and stayed there all day.

“Broadly, there’s evidence of discrimination against Asian-Americans in the admissions process… and that the magnitude of racial preference is quite large,” Arcidiacono said under questioning from SFFA lawyer J. Scott McBride.

Arcidiacono also noted that 86 percent of recruited athletes were admitted, 33.6 percent of legacy students were admitted, 42.2 percent of applicants on the Dean or Director’s List were admitted, and 46.7 percent of children of faculty or staff were admitted.

The Duke economist said that based onhis analysis of Harvard's data, he concludes that there is  a “systematic” pattern in which African American students and Hispanic applicants see higher overall and personal scores than Asian students along with a higher probability of admission. “Race very much appears to be influencing the overall rating, the personal rating, and the admit rate,” Arcidiacono said. 

After lunch, Harvard attorney William F. Lee began cross-examining Arcidiacono who admitted that he never spoke to any of the students applying for Harvard. He also said that he understood that if consideration of race were to be eliminated in the admission process, blacks and Hispanic enrollment would go down.

When asked about the existence of a "white penalty," Arciadiacono said a "white penalty is the same thing as an African-American or Hispanic tip."

Lee also pointed out by questioning Arciadiacono that after the witness became chair of Duke's economy department, the percentage of African Americans in the department decreased from 7.5% to 2.09%.

Harvard’s expert economist, David Card, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, says there are flaws in Arcidiacono’s analysis..

Among other things, Card wrote in his own analysis, Arcidiacono’s analysis fails to consider the Harvard’s "holistic' evaluation that goes beyond academic achievement. “Harvard’s whole-person evaluation extends beyond test scores, GPA, and other measures of prior academic achievement,” he wrote. “Yet Prof. Arcidiacono focuses overwhelmingly on the relative academic strength of Asian American applicants.”

On Wednesday a half-dozen Harvard officials involved in the Ivy League school's admission evaluations took the witness stand. They defended the school's admission process and that when scoring the non-academic factors, such as artistic talent, athletic ability, and whether or not they are on the special list of alumni aand big donors, applicants' race was not taken into consideration.

SFFA lawyers introduced a chart compiled by Mark Hansen, a former official in Harvard’s Office of Institutional Research. They believed the chart shows that race is considered when scoring the non-academic factors. Hanson tried to play down the significance of his  charts "notes" for himself and not meant to uncover discrimination.

Judge Allison D. Burroughs wanted to know what the chart does show, if not how the admissions process actually works.

“Hypothetical admitted-student pools, if you considered different factors,” Hansen said. The models could not support a conclusion, he emphasized, that there was bias in the admissions process.

SFFA represents several Asian American students who claim that although their academic scores were higher, lesser qualified applicants took their spots. The plaintiff's students are not expected to testify or be identified during the trial although they submitted written testimony. The students fear harassment and retaliation.

Next week, students in favor of Harvard's current admission practices that take race into consideration in a form of affirmative action will take the stand.

The trial is expected to conclude next week, but is will most likely continue the debate in the appeals courts.
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