The left’s identity politics agenda takes another hit: now Harvard University is getting accused of blatant racial discrimination–against Asian applicants.
A group called Students for Fair Admissions, which represents Asian-American students, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston last week–claiming that they were being unfairly denied admission because of their race.
To bolster their claim, Students for Fair Admissions cites an analysis of six years of admissions data–where Asian students received substantially lower “personal rating” scores.
These scores survey subjective traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness, and being “respected.” But, even though administrators hadn’t met most of the applicants, Asians scored lower. Asians who had met with alumni interviewers fared better in personal ratings–suggesting that Asians were given, by default, a lower score.
The low personality scores were enough, in many cases, to offset higher test scores and better grades. Based on grades and test scores alone, Harvard should have more than double the number of Asian students.
An expert working with Students for Fair Admissions, Duke University economist Peter Arcidiacono also found blatant discrimination in his analysis. With all qualifications being the same, a male student who is not economically disadvantaged would have a 25 percent chance of getting in if he were Asian, 36 chance of getting in if he were white, a 77 percent if he were Hispanic, and a 95 percent chance if he were African-American.
Calling Harvard’s “diversity” initiative a “charade,” the lawsuit drew parallels to Harvard’s blatant discrimination against Jewish applicants in the 1920s and 1930s.
The lawsuit also claims that Harvard knew about the discrimination in 2013 after running an internal investigation–but they “killed the investigation and buried the reports” to avoid having to let in more Asian students.
The liberal left’s identity politics hinges on bringing together a lot of minority groups to fight, largely, against straight white males–but, as each group is beginning to push their own agenda even at the expense of other groups, it’s clear: identity politics are beginning to unravel.
