“Does the admissions process discriminate against Asians?” A new study by the Center for Equal Opportunity finds new evidence of bias against Asian American applicants applying to Harvard
(Falls Church, VA) Well before the Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard for discrimination against Asian American applicants, the university’s Office of Institutional Research (OIR) looked into whether the school’s admissions process disadvantaged Asian Americans.
The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) analyzes the OIR report data in a study released today: Harvard Investigates Harvard: Does the Admissions Process Disadvantage Asians? Dr. Althea Nagai, a research fellow at the Center for Equal Opportunity, authored the CEO study, which is available on the Center’s web site at www.ceousa.org
OIR produced several reports that looked at a variety of factors that might be considered during the admission process, including academics, legacy status, athletic recruitment, personal rating, and race. If academic record was the single criterion, a far larger share of Asians would have been admitted, according to the data in the OIR reports. As OIR researchers looked at additional factors, the proportion of Asians who might have been admitted declined, and the number of blacks and Hispanics rose. The number of whites also increased as other factors were considered, declining only with inclusion of the final factor of race. OIR’s data demonstrates that being African American, Native American, or Hispanic was a “plus” factor in the competition for admission, but being Asian American proved to be a “minus.”
The CEO study concludes that while Harvard dismissed OIR’s findings, maintaining that they were drafts which were merely preliminary and never final, the data themselves are irrefutable: Harvard’s admissions policy intentionally disadvantaged Asian students. Linda Chavez, founder and chairman of CEO, said, “The question OIR addressed is effectively being litigated in the lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in admissions on Harvard’s part. Our study of OIR data confirms an admissions process that engages in ‘racial regulation,’ in which the admissions committee chooses a class made up of certain percentages of African American, American Indian, Hispanic, and Asian American students. In the case of Asian Americans, the committee limits their numbers notwithstanding exceptional academic qualifications.”
The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit research and educational organization founded by Linda Chavez in 1995. CEO has published studies of racial and ethnic discrimination in admissions to dozens of universities. Roger Clegg is president and general counsel, and Terry Eastland is a senior fellow.
