From my previous blog post, I looked at some of the methods that colleges and universities used to replace race-based affirmative action policies. These policies may promote economic diversity but cannot ensure racial diversity. Racial diversity can occur efficiently using Affirmative Action policies. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at the controversy surrounding a recent Affirmative Action case. The case I looked at was Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. The implications this case may have if brought in front of the Supreme Court can be detrimental too.
As stated before in my previous blog posts, the current administration is investigating colleges and universities accused of practicing discriminatory policies against white applicants, and Affirmative Action policies may cease to exist. Most importantly, these investigations are being real, and in 2018, the Trump Administration was investigating Yale University. Not only Yale, but Harvard University was also on the chopping block. Similar to the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Yale was under investigation for discriminating against Asian-American students.
What sparked the investigations regarding Yale University?
A letter.
The US Justice and Education Departments have launched a civil rights investigation into whether Yale University discriminated against Asian American applicants. The US Justice Department also backed the Students for Fair Admissions’s appeal. From a brief filed with the federal court hearing the case, the Justice Department, states that “…Harvard provides no meaningful criteria to cabin its use of race; use of a vague personal rating’ that harms Asian American applicants’ chances for admission… and may be infected with racial bias…and has never seriously considered race-neutral alternatives in its more than 45 years using race to make admissions decisions.” The brief also contains past Supreme Court rulings, which permit colleges to consider race in admissions, and argues that Harvard goes beyond those limits. Many believe that this is a tactic by the administration to challenge the Supreme Court decisions regarding Affirmative Action in college admissions. The SFFA even suggested that Harvard systematically discriminates against Asian-Americans by suppressing the number of Asian American students that attend the school. They also suppose that the school caps the number of Asian American students and reserve spots for “less-qualified” students of other races. The idea that Affirmative Action favors those who are less qualified has been a proven myth.
What is interesting about these cases is that the US Justice Department is purposely targeting Harvard and Yale. In a complaint from 2016, Yukong Zhao alleged that Yale, Brown University, and Dartmouth College, all unfairly denied admissions to Asian American applicants due to their race. The department dismissed his complaints about Brown University and Dartmouth College but listed to his complaint about Yale. Many believe that this is a tactic to undo past Affirmative Action precedent by challenging SCOTUS (The Supreme Court of the United States) and using this investigation as a larger plan to dismantle Affirmative Action. Conservatives have always opposed affirmative action policies that use race-based admissions. And given the current makeup of the Supreme Court, a majority of the judges are Conservative.
The Harvard and Yale investigations can have severe consequences for college admissions policies and Affirmative Action. No matter what, racial minorities will always be in the last place. Policies that fave Affirmative Action gives minorities a chance in society. It allows them to excel and succeed in life. We need to protect Affirmative Action policies at all costs.
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