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Harvard Hit With Racial Bias Complaint

Posted by Soulskill on from the standardizing-the-admissions-voodoo dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A coalition of 64 organizations filed a complaint against Harvard on Friday alleging the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants hoping to attend classes there. "Many studies have indicated that Harvard University has been engaged in systemic and continuous discrimination against Asian-Americans during its very subjective 'Holistic' college admissions process." One such study shows Asian-Americans had to score an average of 140 points higher than white students on their SAT test to have an equal chance of getting in. The complaint seeks a federal investigation and demands Harvard "immediately cease and desist from using stereotypes, racial biases and other discriminatory means in evaluating Asian-American applicants."

15 of 529 comments (clear)

  1. Affirmative Action by Zelucifer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't racial discrimination the definition of affirmative action? I'm not sure what makes them think they have any actionable complaints against the university.

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    1. Re:Affirmative Action by techno-vampire · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, affirmative action is reverse discrimination because it seeks to make it easier for various minorities to get accepted than it otherwise would have been. The fact that this causes the institution to discriminate against qualified applicants who aren't members of the favored minority is just an unpleasant consequence that proponents of the scheme try to sweep under the rug.

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    2. Re:Affirmative Action by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No. Though some people feel that way. Affirmative action is what t says it is; instead of passively assuming that civil rights makes people equal overnight, there needed to be an active response to try and make things equal. Ie, most colleges refused historically to enroll black students, and black schools were historically underfunded and so did not prepare students well for college, then it's completely naive to say "you're all equal now, good luck with that!" and assume things will sort themselves out.

      Of course those who do not believe that institutional racism exists don't believe it though.

    3. Re:Affirmative Action by jcr · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Back when Kennedy coined the term "affirmative action", he was directing federal agencies to take "affirmative action to ensure that race is not a factor" in hiring decisions.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    4. Re:Affirmative Action by ganjadude · · Score: 5, Insightful

      there is no such thing as reverse discrimination. all discrimination, is discrimination

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    5. Re:Affirmative Action by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      TL;DR: Affirmative Action tries to attain Equal Outcomes by eradicating Equal Opportunity.

    6. Re:Affirmative Action by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Affirmative action is what t says it is; instead of passively assuming that civil rights makes people equal overnight, there needed to be an active response to try and make things equal.

      Meanwhile, those of us who came of age having nothing whatsoever to do with slavery or Jim Crow are disadvantaged because of the crimes of yesteryear. Corruption of blood is antithetical to American values. So is ignoring both the letter and spirit of the Equal Protection Clause. The only people who advocate in favor of Affirmative Action are those that believe the "original sin" is being born with a low melanin count.

      By the by, since TFA is about Asian-Americans, perhaps you'd care to explain why that group has done so well for itself? They were rounded up and put into camps within recent memory, to say nothing of the racially biased immigration laws of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, or the more subtle racism directed towards their group even into modern times.

      Here's another inconvenient truth for you: The biggest predictor of success in life isn't how much money your family has or what your melanin count is. It's whether or not you come from a two parent household. That Tea Party zealot known as Daniel Patrick Moynihan pointed this out decades ago but was completely ignored by the policymakers of the day. Government can't compel people to stay in relationships (nor should it try) but it could provide mechanisms to remove some of the stresses of American society on families. We could start with a decent family leave system (something half as good as the Nordic Countries and/or Canada) that would actually enable both parents to spend time in the household without worrying about destroying their career prospects.

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      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    7. Re:Affirmative Action by NicBenjamin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Depends on what you mean by qualified.

      If you're looking for the kid whose actual talent level is top 1%, then a valedictorian from a school with few AP classes, whose SAT score is low because he had to spend his off-hours working at his dad's gas station is a really good bet. Especially if he got a 95th percentile on the test. You know he didn't spend 20 hours a week with an SAT coach. He's probably actually a lot better then 95th percentile.

      OTOH a rich tiger daughter, whose mother insisted she take 8 AP classes, was not allowed to do any extracurricular activities that don't add mondo points to the student-selection algorithm (ie: classical violin rather then rock guitar), and got 96th percentile. You know she did spend 20 hours a week with an SAT coach. Let's just say she's probably not gonna do better then 96th percentile in real life.

      But any criteria solely for accepting applicants based on points, GPA, test scores, etc. is gonna result in her getting in 100% of the time.

    8. Re:Affirmative Action by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My sister worked in Ivy undergrad admissions. She actually tells a story of how an Asian father called her asking WHY they let his son in - his grades and test scores weren't perfect. Her answer was- because he actually played sports, had hobbies, and joined clubs that weren't just resume builders... the kid was interesting.

      They actually had a name for this: "atypical asian"

    9. Re:Affirmative Action by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Affirmative Action's original intent seeks to cease historical racism and racists/sexists from claiming that people of color or sex cannot attend a legal institution

      Fuck you!

      I am an Asian American and I will tell you to stuff that goddamn 'historical racist/sexist' excuse back where the sun never shines

      I never need any affirmative action to get to where I am

      I never applied for any aid, and never receive any either

      And in academic study I never get - and never even thought of getting - any break just because I am a "minority"

      I do not believe in the bullshit that because of some 'historical event' I am in any way 'disadvantaged'

      And I will say the same "Fuck You!" to those who say that "Affirmative Action" is still needed

      --- --- ---

      That said, regarding the TFA, I do not know why they complaint about the 140 point above the White thing when the fact is that the Hispanic and the Blacks are being enrolled into ivy league colleges (and all other colleges as well) with really, and I mean, unbelievably low scores!

      What they are doing is that they are forcing the talented individuals to share the same class with idiots, they are actually discriminating against those with genuine talents

      I dunno man ... This AA thing is a fucked up thing to begin with and it's 2015 and we still getting stuck with this fucked up thing

      When will America grow up?

      In Japan, in Korea, in China they do not have AA --- and their economies are growing leaps and bounds and everybody can attest to their technological achievements

      America should get rid of this fucked up AA thing, or else we can never catch up to those living in East Asia

      --
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    10. Re:Affirmative Action by Eunuchswear · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In Japan, in Korea, in China they do not have AA --- and their economies are growing leaps and bounds and everybody can attest to their technological achievements

      In Japan? Economy growing leaps and bounds? Where have you been for the last 20 years?

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    11. Re:Affirmative Action by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even if you were african american:

      You have not been kept as a slave, nor have your parent or grandparent.

      I see that you conveniently only used the parent and grandparent for the slave point and not the others.
      His parents and grandparents have systematically been excluded from jobs and housing, they have also experienced a time when they weren't allowed to vote because of their skin color.
      Now, if we ignore skin color for a little while we have plenty of studies that show how accessible academic life is for children of low income families.
      Social liquidity is very low in the U.S. so if you are born poor, hard work will not be enough to bring you out of it, you also need luck.
      If we now go back to consider his skin color we see that because of the way his parents, grandparents and great grandparents have been discriminated against it is very likely that his opportunities to actually break out from the lower income class have been extremely limited.

      You don't need affirmative action to solve this, what we need is a system that isn't stacked against people based on what family they were born into.
      In general society would benefit a lot from funding all or part of everyones education with taxes. Even if you don't intend to study more yourself you benefit from people around you getter more educated.

  2. That last sentence... by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The complaint seeks a federal investigation and demands Harvard "immediately cease and desist from using stereotypes, racial biases and other discriminatory means in evaluating Asian-American applicants.""

    OR... we could just evaluate students on their merits, rather than their skin color. Remove the race/ethnicity indicators from the application forms altogether and don't make them a factor during interviews.

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    1. Re:That last sentence... by jcr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The result is that their student body is 60% Asian and less than 1% black, in a state were Asians and blacks make up a similar portion of the population. ..and the blacks at Caltech are those who can actually succeed there.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  3. Someone is about to learn about the Simpson's para by melted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Someone is about to learn about Simpson's paradox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...