Picture Source: Education Week
Floridian Jon Wang takes his case for fair admissions to the Supreme Court
What is Affirmative Action?
In the context of higher education, affirmative action is where colleges and universities consider race when accepting or rejecting a potential student. The concept was created during the Kennedy administration as a response to the Civil Rights movement in the 60s. Race-conscious admission processes aim to create more opportunities for minority students who often come from disadvantaged areas. While these are great intents, there are some costs as well, making it today a widely debated topic in American society.
Why is Affirmative Action controversial?
Owing to how this process often rejects qualified candidates and creates extra competition for some races more than others, opponents of affirmative action argue that it disadvantages Asian Americans and White Americans, who on average score higher. Many Asian Americans feel that there is anti-Asian bias in the college admissions process due to Affirmative Action, and that since affirmative action was intended to support minority groups, it is unfair that it does not favor Asian Americans in the college process.
What went down in the 2023 Supreme Court Cases?
The Supreme Court is currently weighing on two cases brought by the Students for Fair Admissions, a group created by Edward Blum, an anti-affirmative action advocate. One case in the lawsuit asserts that Harvard discriminates against Asian American students, which is backed up by Jon Wang, an Asian American student from Florida with a perfect GPA and 1590 SAT score, yet was still rejected from all of the elite colleges he applied to, including Harvard. Wang blames his rejections on affirmative action, stating, “…I had a 20% chance of getting accepted to Harvard as an Asian American and a 95% chance as an African American”. The Supreme Court is expected to come to its decisions on these cases before July 4. If the court decides to rule on the side of Jon Wang and the Students for Fair Admissions, Affirmative Action could be banned nationwide which would cause many colleges to remodel their systems to increase diversity.
Source:
https://news.yahoo.com/asian-american-student-1590-sat-171857237.html
https://www.reuters.com/legal/what-happens-if-us-supreme-court-bans-affirmative-action-2023-05-24/
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