Too Many Asian Americans -- Affirmative Discrimination in Elite College Admissions

Center for Equal Opportunity

Linda Chavez, Chairman Roger Clegg, President & General Counsel 7700 Leesburg Pike, Suite 231 Falls Church, VA 22043 Phone 703-442-0066 Fax 703-442-0449 www.ceousa.org

# Executive Summary

Asian Americans are “overrepresented” in certain elite schools relative to their numbers in the U.S. population. In pursuit of racial and ethnic diversity, these schools will admit some Asian American applicants but not as many as their academic qualifications would justify. As a case study, I examine three private universities and Asian American enrollment in those universities over time.

No “Ceiling” on Asian Americans at Caltech But One at MIT and Harvard

• Caltech has no affirmative action. The number of Asian American undergraduates has increased, quite steeply since 2000. They make up more than 40% of Caltech students today.

• MIT uses race as a factor in admissions, but not legacy connections. The rise in number of Asian Americans at MIT is halted in the 1990s. Peaking at 29%, the percentage of Asian Americans at MIT has stalled at around 26%.

• At Harvard, Asian Americans as a percentage of all undergraduates sharply increased to 21%, then significantly dropped and has stayed at roughly 17%. Harvard uses race as a factor in admissions, along with legacy connections.

• Even when statistically controlling for other variables including social class, gender, extracurricular activities, test scores and grades, AP classes, and athletics, Asian American applicants were less likely to be admitted to America’s elite colleges and universities compared to whites, African Americans, and Hispanics, according to scholars Thomas J. Espenshade and Alexandria Walton Radford of Princeton University.

• So-called holistic admissions and diversity goals enable discrimination against Asian American applicants, much as the Harvard plan of the 1920s, also using holistic admissions, did against Jewish applicants.

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