No More Waiting for Harvard Verdict

We have been covering the Harvard admissions case which touches on such areas as affirmative action. Now there is a verdict, as can be seen in the article below. The plaintiff organization says it will appeal, and the objective has always been taking affirmative action and related admissions processes to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Just a reminder that UC admissions are covered by Proposition 209 which bans affirmative action.

Judge rules Harvard does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants

By Deirdre Fernandes, Boston Globe, 10-1-19

A Massachusetts US District Court judge ruled Tuesday that Harvard University’s admissions process does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants, in a blow to efforts to challenge affirmative action in higher education.

US District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled that while Harvard could tweak its admissions process with more training and monitoring, it is “very fine.”

The court “will not dismantle a very fine admissions program that passes constitutional muster, solely because it could do better,” Burroughs wrote in a 130-page decision.

Students for Fair Admissions had filed a lawsuit alleging that Harvard’s admissions process discriminated against Asian-American applicants. Ed Blum, the leader of the group, was previously involved in a challenge to the University of Texas’s affirmative action process.

Blum in a statement Tuesday said that SFFA will appeal the decision, “if necessary, to the US Supreme Court.”

“Students for Fair Admissions is disappointed that the court has upheld Harvard’s discriminatory admissions policies,” Blum said in a statement. “We believe that the documents, emails, data analysis and depositions SFFA presented at trial compellingly revealed Harvard’s systematic discrimination against Asian-American applicants.”

Harvard was not immediately available for comment.

Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/10/01/judge-rules-harvard-does-not-discriminate-against-asian-american-applicants/ZPYqcI7cC62g4cu6Hzwx5N/story.html

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UPDATE: NOTE: The actual court decision is at:

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1865-harvard-admissions-process/fcb2b57c15f154b139df/optimized/full.pdf

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