On June 23, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the prolonged case of Abigail Fisher v. the University of Texas at Austin that the university’s race-conscious affirmative action policy is indeed constitutional. Affirmative action is defined as “an important tool to provide qualified individuals with equal access to educational and professional opportunities” by the Leadership Conference, a human and civil rights coalition. However, to opponents of this policy, affirmative action is no better than discrimination, as it is just discrimination reversed.
Many victims of affirmative action, typically whites and Asian Americans, claim that they face racial discrimination in college admissions, which has prompted the Asian American community, including Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese Americans, to become increasingly involved in the legal matters of this policy.
In 2013, California student Michael Wang applied to many top-tier colleges, as he had accomplished many impressive feats during his high school career: he was a stellar student who received near perfect grades and was ranked nationally in debate, math, and piano competitions. Wang was “shocked when he was rejected by Stanford and every Ivy League school except for the University of Pennsylvania,” according to Business Insider, and proceeded to file a complaint to the United States Department of Education, noting that he was discriminated against on the basis of his race as an Asian American.
Similarly, this past May, the Asian American Coalition for Education submitted a complaint against Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth, highlighting a number of facts presented in the book No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal by Thomas J. Espenshade and Alexandria Radford. By analyzing admissions rates by race and SAT scores, Espenshade and Radford found that to be considered equal at a top private university, an Asian American student must score 140 points higher than a white student, 270 points higher than a Hispanic student and 450 points higher than an African American student on the SAT. While there are other factors to be considered such as legacy and athletic recruits, the facts led to the conclusion that Asian Americans are held to a higher standard than their white, Hispanic, and African American counterparts.
Source: shutterstock.com
The Leadership Conference noted that, “Affirmative action remedies past discrimination, fights present-day discrimination, and promotes diversity in our society... ensures that colleges and universities can identify and attract outstanding individuals from historically underrepresented groups.” If the purpose of affirmative action is to remedy past discrimination and to attract minority individuals, then why are Asian Americans expected to perform at a considerably higher standard to gain admission than African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos as opposed to an equal standard?
In the past, Asians have suffered racism and discrimination in America: under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Immigration Act of 1924, the Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the ruling of the United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, in addition to many others. Moreover, Asian Americans make up 5.6% of the American population, according to a 2015 census by the United States Census Bureau, whereas African Americans make up 13.3%, Hispanics/ Latinos make up 17.6%, and whites make up 77.1%. Considering that the purpose of affirmative action is as noted above, how is it that Asian Americans are expected to outperform even white students, who evidently make up the vast majority?
There are many overqualified and studious Asian American students who seek solid education at top colleges but experience diminished educational opportunities through affirmative action, which, although allegedly meant to advantage minority groups, clearly holds Asian Americans to higher standards.
For Harvard’s class of 2020, Asian Americans make up 22.1% while white students make up roughly half of the student body. If college admissions were solely based on merit, then top institutions could potentially share similar racial makeup with the California Institute of Technology, where 45% of the undergraduates are of Asian descent.
In order to provide equal educational opportunities to all students, each applicant should be reviewed within the context of his or her upbringing, environment, and available resources. The race-conscious policy of affirmative action should hold true to its given purpose and not be used as an academic double standard against Asian American students.