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On June 29, the Supreme Court ruled that Harvard’s admission system discriminates against Asian American students, but the Supreme Court didn’t remove race from the application process. Instead, the Court added that applicants still have the freedom to “discuss how race affected his or her life, whether through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”
Straight Arrow News contributor Larry Lindsey says Harvard’s quota system was a superficial and simplistic solution to address diversity at top colleges. He suggests the real answer lies in improving opportunities for young Black children.
Harvard and others tried to redress these legacies through what they called affirmative action. But if you actually look at the data, and how they practiced it, there was nothing affirmative about it. This is what happened. From 1993 through 2014, Asians comprised almost exactly 16.5% of Harvard’s freshman class every single year for 22 years. Sound suspicious?
Well, if you examined their admissions based simply on grades, SAT scores and extracurricular activity, Asians would have comprised 41% of the class. So a lawsuit was brought. It sure looks like Harvard was using an Asian quota to limit the admission of people from that ethnic group. Harvard, by the way, had done the same thing to Jewish applicants back in the 1920s and early 1930s. Well, the suit produced discovery, and in that discovery, we discovered how Harvard managed to produce such a consistent result.
In addition to the usual analysis of grades and SAT scores and extracurricular activities, Harvard added something called a personal score. The personal score was determined subjectively by the admissions office. And, not surprisingly, the personal score of Blacks was the highest, Hispanics were next, whites were next, and Asians were at the bottom. In fact, the score was based on things like likeability, courage, kindness. In effect, the Harvard admissions procedure was saying Asians really weren’t very likable, courageous, or kind.
Well, the differences ended up being extreme. If you had an Asian with a 25% chance of admission, based on their grades, SATs and extracurricular activities, and apply that same fact-set to whites, the probability of admission went up to 36%. When applied to Hispanics, same-fact set, 77% chance of admission. When applied to Blacks, 95% chance of admission. Even under affirmative action, race is supposed to be one factor among many. Statistically, that just wasn’t the way it worked out.
