Even though the majority of Asian Americans support the program that helps disadvantaged students vs. privileged students, a vocal and organized minority have been successful in grabbing the headlines in the debate over Harvard's admission policies, which has been charged with being biased against Asian Americans.
The plaintiff's lawyers in the Harvard case opened his arguments by saying that the trail was not about affirmative action. But egging on the aggrieved Asian American students and providing legal support is Students for Fair Admissions, a group headed by Edward Blum who has spent decades fighting affirmative action, which allows schools to take race under consideration in order to create a diverse student body.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What's Up, 2019: is part of series of posts about issues facing the AAPI community in the coming year.
The trial began in November and lasted 10 days. The judge is expected to render a decision this month. No matter what U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burrough rules, both sides of the argument, Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions, say they will appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Students for Fair Admission says Harvard intentionally keeps the admission rate of Asian Americans below 20 percent despite statistically having the highest test scores among all ethnic groups. Blum stated that his goal is to eliminate total consideration as race as a factor for admission to Harvard.
Blum's critics believe a ruling for the plaintiffs would eliminate the use of any affirmative action and work against qualified, but underrepresented, minorities.
The debate revealed a schism in the Asian American community, roughly delineated by recent immigrants from China and Asian Americans who have been in this country longer than a generation.
New immigrants, without the knowledge of this country's civil rights battles and how minorities had to fight for affirmative action, believe that admissions should be based solely on grades and SAT scores. They claim that less qualified students - mostly blacks and Latinos - were taking slots that they believe should be going to Asian Americans with higher test scores and better grades.
Affirmative action supporters, made up of many of the older Asian American civil rights organizations who fought for affirmative action and other equal opportunity programs, argue that not all Asian Americans fit into the model minority myth that the Harvard plaintiffs seem to accept.
For example, although about half of Asian Americans hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, only 27 percent of Vietnamese Americans and 17 percent of Hmong and Cambodian Americans hold at least a bachelor’s degree, according to a 2014 report from the Center for American Progress and AAPI Data.
A similar argument is being made in New York City where Asian American students form the majority of the student body in the city's college-prep high schools. Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools Chancellor Richard Carranza made changes to an admissions policy that some members of the Asian American community claim discriminates against Asian American students.
Instead of relying on scores on the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, the change would reserve spots for the top students in every middle school in low-income neighborhoods. That would eliminate 11 schools with a majority Asian American student body but more than double the number of black and Latino students.
Those admission changes are scheduled to begin in 2019 and would nearly double offers to black and Latino students from approximately 9 percent to approximately 16 percent, according to the mayor's office.
Blum's critics believe a ruling for the plaintiffs would eliminate the use of any affirmative action and work against qualified, but underrepresented, minorities.
The debate revealed a schism in the Asian American community, roughly delineated by recent immigrants from China and Asian Americans who have been in this country longer than a generation.
New immigrants, without the knowledge of this country's civil rights battles and how minorities had to fight for affirmative action, believe that admissions should be based solely on grades and SAT scores. They claim that less qualified students - mostly blacks and Latinos - were taking slots that they believe should be going to Asian Americans with higher test scores and better grades.
Affirmative action supporters, made up of many of the older Asian American civil rights organizations who fought for affirmative action and other equal opportunity programs, argue that not all Asian Americans fit into the model minority myth that the Harvard plaintiffs seem to accept.
For example, although about half of Asian Americans hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, only 27 percent of Vietnamese Americans and 17 percent of Hmong and Cambodian Americans hold at least a bachelor’s degree, according to a 2014 report from the Center for American Progress and AAPI Data.
A similar argument is being made in New York City where Asian American students form the majority of the student body in the city's college-prep high schools. Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools Chancellor Richard Carranza made changes to an admissions policy that some members of the Asian American community claim discriminates against Asian American students.
Instead of relying on scores on the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, the change would reserve spots for the top students in every middle school in low-income neighborhoods. That would eliminate 11 schools with a majority Asian American student body but more than double the number of black and Latino students.
Those admission changes are scheduled to begin in 2019 and would nearly double offers to black and Latino students from approximately 9 percent to approximately 16 percent, according to the mayor's office.
Plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to keep the the city schools from implementing the new admission procedures.
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