Many Asian-American students have been denied entry into Harvard because...why? This month's student files show that Asian-Americans outperformed all other racial groups academically. Harvard claims that there is no anti-Asian bias, but Duke University economist Peter Arciniacodo's findings seem to show otherwise as a male Asian-American candidate with a 25% chance of entry would have a 32% chance of admission if he were white, a 77% chance if he were Hispanic, and a 95% chance if he were black. Harvard's own Office of Institutional Research even reported that 19% of Asian-American candidates would be accepted compared to the 26% that they should be when connections to alumni and athletic preferences.
What's this hidden factor? Personality. Because personality is subjective, these factors can be rigged against certain groups of people quite easily. Asian-Americans tend to have lower personality scores than people of other races. I have a beef with the concept of the Ivy League in general, but that's for another post. Harvard has held (and possibly still holds) Asian-Americans to higher admissions standards than other racial groups and does this to maintain the appearance of a balance of the races.
In the 1920s, A. Lawerence Lowell, the president of Harvard at the time, wrote about preventing "a dangerous increase in the proportion of Jews." Granted, it was the 1920s, when racial prejudices were the norm, but using unfair standards to maintain a certain image will ultimately backfire. Some students want a completely race-blind admissions process, but others say this will hurt underrepresented minority groups. Anti-Asian allegations have been made against Harvard since the 1980s and these biases specifically target Asians.
Affirmative action is said to have hurt Asians as they tend to get passed over in favor of other minorities; white students and applicants were affected by "reverse discrimination". When Justice Powell, a Justice in 1978, voiced his support of affirmative action, his opinions were seen as controlling. Today, this concept of diversity is used to justify race-based admissions in universities. However, affirmative action has proven to be less than affirming for Asian-Americans--all for the sake of "breaking down stereotypes". Well, what about the stereotype that Ivy League universities only care about appearances and have an ugly underbelly underneath the vine-covered façade?
Race balancing is said to promote "colorblindness" with regard to race, but, in fact, it encourages people to see race where it shouldn't apply. It's just one factor in what makes diversity diverse. Socioeconomic background, political view, religion, and many other things lie underneath the various-colored skins of people. To say that diversity is only skin-deep is an insult to the concept of diversity itself and will only hurt the people this concept "helps" in the long run.
Sources and photos (DOA 6/27/18):
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/opinion/harvard-asian-american-racism.html
https://harvardlawreview.org/2017/12/the-harvard-plan-that-failed-asian-americans/
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-universities-seek-to-delay-lawsuits-over-asian-american-admissions-2015-7