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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 3 November 2018
Diversity among Asians divides them on affirmative action

By JANIE HAR, and past consultant to
Associated Press Harvard in the lawsuit, says
A federal judge in Boston is under-represented Asians
scheduled to hear closing such as Cambodians and
arguments Friday in a high- Hmong can get a boost
ly publicized lawsuit alleg- from a review that goes be-
ing that elite Harvard dis- yond test scores. The same
criminates against Asian- goes for lower-income
Americans. Asian-Americans whose
Much of the spotlight has grades may not reflect
been on affluent Chinese- their potential. Park also
Americans with stellar aca- says colleges want students
demic scores who say the with different backgrounds
college rejects Asians in so Asian-Americans may
favor of lesser-qualified ap- be more coveted in fields
plicants. They say factoring or colleges with few Asians.
in race hurts Asian-Ameri- It depends on the situation.
cans. Students for Fair Admissions,
But others in the Asian com- on the other hand, argues
munity say that a race- the system in place at Har-
blind process relying solely vard puts unfair weight on
on academic scores would race, primarily at the ex-
also hurt Asian-Americans. pense of academically
Southeast Asians, for ex- talented Asian Americans.
ample, who largely came In this March 13, 2016 file photo, a sculpture in bronze of John Harvard rests on the campus of It also alleges that Harvard
over as refugees from Viet- Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. People often touch the toe of the statue’s shoe for luck. intentionally uses a vague
nam, Laos and Cambodia, Associated Press “personal rating” to reject
are under-represented in of the Southeast Asia Re- missions two years ago. versity in Bloomington, says Asian-American applicants
higher education. source Action Center . Here are some of the issues that political identity has in favor of students from
“The narrative right now The case brought by Stu- surrounding Asian-Ameri- now evolved largely into a other racial backgrounds.
is very focused on a very dents for Fair Admissions cans and affirmative ac- demographic designation Supporters of affirmative
specific segment within the could wind up before a tion: for “a very diverse group.” action say it’s possible that
Asian-American communi- newly re-constituted and WHO ARE ASIAN-AMERI- WHAT IS THE ASIAN AMERI- Harvard is biased against
ty that does not represent more conservative U.S. Su- CANS? CAN COALITION FOR EDU- Asian-Americans, but that
the larger Asian-American preme Court, which only There are at least 18 mil- CATION? doesn’t mean race-con-
community,” said Quyen narrowly re-affirmed the lion people in the U.S. who Students for Fair Admissions scious policies should be
Dinh, executive director use of race in college ad- are of Asian descent from filed the lawsuit against scrapped.
about 20 countries. Asian- Harvard in 2014. Actively WHY ARE ASIANS CALLED
Americans are about 6 supporting it is the Asian THE “MODEL MINORITY”?
percent of the U.S. popula- American Coalition for Edu- The stereotype of Asian-
tion, but make up nearly 23 cation , which filed federal Americans as hard-work-
percent of this year’s fresh- complaints in 2015 alleging ing, educated and free of
man class at Harvard , 22 discrimination. The coali- societal problems started
percent of the same class tion’s president is Yukong in the 1960s. Wu, the history
at Princeton , and are the Zhao, a corporate strate- professor, says it was a way
fastest growing minority in gist who immigrated to the for whites to establish a ra-
the country. U.S. from China in 1992 to cial order that was defined,
Chinese-Americans are pursue a master’s degree most importantly, by not
the largest sub-group with in business. Zhao is part of a being black.
at least 4.3 million people, new generation of wealthi- Asian-Americans were also
followed by Indian-Ameri- er Chinese immigrants who responsible for perpetuat-
cans at 4 million and Filipi- are active on social media ing the myth, she said, add-
no-Americans at 3 million. and opposed to affirmative ing that the “consequenc-
Chinese started migrat- action. es of that have long func-
ing to the country in the Conservative strategist Ed- tioned to justify anti-black
19th century as labor for ward Blum, who is presi- racism and anti-black poli-
the growing West. More dent of Students for Fair cies.”
recent waves include refu- Admissions, was behind IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THE
gees from Vietnam, Laos the last affirmative action MODEL MINORITY MYTH?
and Cambodia, as well as admissions case, which ac- Overall, the numbers look
highly skilled workers from cused the University of Tex- good for Asian-Americans.
China and India. as of discriminating against Their household median
The term “Asian-American” white students. Blum lost income is $83,000, com-
was coined by young civil that case at the U.S. Su- pared with $60,000 for the
rights activists marching preme Court. U.S. More than 50 percent
alongside Latinos and Af- DOES AFFIRMATIVE AC- have a bachelor’s degree
rican Americans for social TION HELP OR HURT ASIAN- or higher, compared with
justice in the 1960s. AMERICANS? 32 percent for the coun-
Ellen D. Wu, a history pro- Depends on who you ask. try, according to the 2017
fessor and director of the Julie J. Park, author of American Community
Asian American Studies “Race on Campus: De- Survey put out by the U.S.
Program at Indiana Uni- bunking Myths with Data” Census Bureau.q