By Monserrat Solis, Co-Editor-in-Chief
SFFA v. Harvard lawsuit will focus on the discrimination against Asian-Americans during admission process eliminating affirmative action.
Asian-Americans filed a lawsuit against Harvard University to remove race consideration in college and university admissions, possibly ending affirmative action, but who will this help?
Edward Blum, a politically conservative activist, founded an organization, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), to bring awareness to race prejudice against Asian-Americans and other races in the admission process. Blum has brought other cases challenging affirmative action and this is just another stunt.
“As an Asian American, this look inside the Harvard admission system has been painful to witness,” wrote Michael Li for Vox. “On the other hand, the lawsuit feels like it has an ulterior agenda.”
The lawsuit has prompted experts to anticipate an end to affirmative action, which was issued in 1961 by former President John Kennedy and mandated federally funded projects to ensure that hiring and employment practices were free of racial bias.
The affirmative action policy focuses on employment and education to provide equal opportunity to historically underrepresented groups, like women and minorities. This policy is highly needed to maintain universities accountable for their admission process.
If the SFFA wins the lawsuit, applicants would no longer disclose their race, but including race is what drives a diverse campus. Of course, colleges want diversity on their campus because that is how they thrive.
Diversity creates space for different ideas, grows the talent pool and creates a better understanding of various cultures, races and ethnicities. Taking that opportunity away on the applications would create an uneven playing field and, in the end, can hurt students’ learning experience.
Harvard’s class of 2022 includes 22.9 percent Asian-Americans, 15.2 percent African-Americans, 12.3 percent Hispanic/Latino, 1.9 percent Native American and .04 percent Native Hawaiian.
UCLA’s fall quarter enrollment included 31.6 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 21.3 percent Hispanic, 5.2 percent African-American and 26.1 percent white students.
These statistics place Asian-Americans at the top of admissions. Clearly, affirmative action is working for them. Eliminating this policy will not help in enrollment equality.
Blum, who is not Asian-American, needs to avoid inserting himself in diversity issues. This lawsuit will only cause us to take five steps back. In this political climate, it seems we are always going backward.