Posted by John Engelman
Harvard Crimson, October 2, 2019
Harvard College’s race-conscious admissions policies do not illegally discriminate against Asian American applicants, federal judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled Tuesday.
The ruling brings an end to this stage of the
lawsuit filed against the University by anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions
in 2014. SFFA alleged that the College's admissions policies discriminate against Asian American applicants by holding them to higher standards. Burroughs, however, found that Harvard’s use of race in its admissions process is legal.
“Ensuring diversity at Harvard relies, in part, on race conscious admissions. Harvard’s admission program passes constitutional muster,” Burroughs wrote in her decision.
In addition to arguing that Harvard’s policies are discriminatory, SFFA contended that the College had artificially capped the number of students from certain racial groups and had failed to seriously consider alternative race-blind strategies for admitting a diverse class — practices which the Supreme Court previously deemed illegal...
SFFA President Edward J. Blum said in a press release Tuesday that his organization plans to appeal the ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Students for Fair Admissions is disappointed that the court has upheld Harvard’s discriminatory admissions policies,” Blum said in the press release. “We believe that the documents, emails, data analysis and depositions SFFA presented at trial compellingly revealed Harvard’s systematic discrimination against Asian-American applicants.”
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The concept of affirmative action was introduced by President Johnson in a June 4, 1965 speech at Howard University. Initially affirmative action was considered to be a temporary expedient to help a race that was considered to be intrinsically equal to whites. Since then affirmative action has become a permanent entitlement given to members of any race that tends to perform poorly on all the mental aptitude tests however they are designed, and in the classroom.
Leading corporations like Microsoft and Facebook, both of which were founded by Harvard alumni who we may confidently assume did not get in because of affirmative action policies, hire people born all over the world.
This is not because those corporations lower standards for politically favored groups. It is because they hire the best professionals they can find. This is the only kind of diversity that has obvious benefits.
In his review of Stephen J. Gould's The Mismeasure of Man. J. Philippe Rushton wrote: :
"The average IQ for African Americans was found to be lower than for Latino, White, Asian, and Jewish Americans (85, 89, 103, 106, and 115, respectively, pp. 273-278)."
Those who advocate affirmative action necessarily lie about it. they say that affirmative action does not lower standards for Negroes and Hispanics, but it does. They say that affirmative action does not discriminate against whites and Orientals, but it does.
And what is so intrinsically wonderful about diversity?
Robert D. Putnam is a Harvard Professor who set out to find proof that affirmative action is beneficial. The results of his research led to contrary conclusions. In “E Pluribus Unum, Diversity and Community in the 21st Century” He wrote:
“New evidence from the U.S. suggests that in ethnically diverse neighborhoods residents of all races tend to ‘hunker down,’” Putnam concluded. “Trust (even of one’s own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer.” Most studies, the professor recounts, show “the more we are brought into physical proximity with people of another race or ethnic background, the more we stick to ‘our own’ and the less we trust the ‘other.’”
https://www.amren.com/news/2007/07/race_doesnt_mat/
I enjoy ethnic restaurants, ethnic stores, and ethnic festivals. I have never known an Oriental I did not like. I admire Jews, respect Judaism, and love Israel. Nevertheless, I do not believe that diversity should be forced on those who prefer their own kind. I do not believe that diversity should ever be achieved by affirmative action.
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