Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 16 June 2018

Harvard, Asian-Americans group spar over data in bias case

By COLLIN BINKLEY Harvard counters that the
BOSTON (AP) — In a fed- study was never intended
eral court case deciding to evaluate possible dis-
if Harvard University dis- crimination and that it was
criminates against Asian- "incomplete, preliminary
American applicants, both and based on limited in-
parties say the evidence is puts."
firmly on their side. University officials have
Harvard and the group Stu- painted the lawsuit as an
dents for Fair Admissions attack on their ability to
filed dueling reports from consider race in admis-
outside economists Friday, sions, which they say is nec-
each studying six years of essary to ensure diversity on
Harvard admissions data campus.
and each reaching wildly In 2016, the Supreme Court
different conclusions. examined the topic and
The reports were filed in upheld race-conscious ad-
Boston's federal court as missions at the University
both parties attempted to of Texas, but the justices
persuade a judge to end warned that other colleges
the suit before it reaches tri- still must be able to prove
al, which has been sched- affirmative action is the
uled to start in October. only way to meet diversity
It marks a step forward in In this March 7, 2017 file photograph, rowers pass the campus of Harvard University as they goals.
a lawsuit that has lasted paddle down the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass. Blum also was a driving
nearly four years and raises Associated Press force behind that case,
implications for many other helping Texas student Abi-
colleges that, like Harvard, relied on an analysis from worse than whites in an applicants and admissions gail Fisher sue the university.
say they consider race Peter Arcidiacono, a Duke overall rating category that factors, Card found that Fisher is also an executive in
as one of many factors to University economist who isn't based on any particu- the effect of being Asian- Students for Fair Admissions,
gather a diverse mix of stu- says he found evidence of lar formula. American was "statistically according to the group's
dents. bias against Asian-Ameri- Yet Harvard alumni who indistinguishable from zero." tax filings.
Edward Blum, a legal strat- cans. interview applicants and Both sides also are sparring Friday's court filings fol-
egist who founded Stu- Arcidiacono's study con- provide their own ratings over a 2013 internal study lowed a recent battle over
dents for Fair Admissions, is- cluded that if Harvard re- generally scored Asian- at Harvard exploring the ra- a trove of Harvard data re-
sued a statement saying his lied only on the academic Americans higher than cial makeup of the admit- viewed by lawyers during
group's filing "exposes the scores it assigns to each whites, a contrast that Arci- ted class. The inquiry, un- the discovery process. Har-
startling magnitude of Har- applicant, more than half diacono says suggests bias. covered by Blum's group, vard argued that its records
vard's discrimination." of admitted students would The university attacked his was conducted amid earli- initially should be filed con-
Harvard countered with have been Asian-American analysis, saying it's flawed er allegations of discrimina- fidentially to protect stu-
a statement calling the in the six years in question. because it excludes appli- tion against Harvard. dents and the admissions
group's analysis "incom- Instead, they made up just cants believed to have an The study found that even process. Blum's group said
plete and misleading," say- 22 percent. advantage regardless of considering factors like leg- the public should have ac-
ing it paints a "dangerously To blame, he wrote, are race, including relatives of acy status and extracurric- cess to the records, and the
inaccurate picture" of the subjective rating catego- alumni and athletes recruit- ular activities, 26 percent of U.S. Education Department
school's admissions pro- ries for which Asian-Ameri- ed by the school. the admitted class would — which is also looking
cess. can applicants consistently Instead, Harvard sought have been expected to be into Harvard's use of race
Both sides built their cases received lower scores than its own study from David Asian-American. Instead, in admissions — weighed
on records detailing Har- their white peers. Card, an economist at 19 percent were. in to agree. The judge ulti-
vard's admissions decisions Asian-Americans, for exam- the University of California, Blum's group says the report mately sided with Harvard,
for individual students who ple, received lower scores Berkeley, who found no is proof of intentional dis- but Blum said Friday that
applied from 2010 through than any other racial group evidence of discrimination crimination and that Har- he believes the rest of the
2015. in a category for "personal against Asian-Americans. vard "killed the study and records will be released "in
Students for Fair Admissions qualities," and they fared Looking at a wider pool of quietly buried the reports." the next few weeks."q