“What I’m afraid of is affirmative action or race-conscious admissions being struck down nationwide.” ![]() “Honestly for me, the overwhelming feeling is fear or a little bit of anxiety,” said Andrew Ham, 19, a sophomore from South Korea. Some students on Harvard’s campus said they were pleased with the decision, although they said they were apprehensive about what would happen if the case made it to the Supreme Court. Judge Burroughs, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, noted in her ruling that Asian-American applicants were accepted to Harvard at the same rate as other applicants and now made up more than 20 percent of the admitted class, even though Asian-Americans made up about 6 percent of the United States population. Harvard admissions officers pointed out that they could fill the freshman class with students with perfect test scores if they wanted to, and that figuring out which apparently highly qualified students to reject was a delicate, difficult balance. ![]() Defenders said that while it might be flawed, the Harvard system tried to forge a more perfect society. Critics of the university admissions process said it showed how the white establishment was afraid of losing its dominance to another racial group. The Harvard case raised powerful issues of class, race and power in American society. She noted more explicit guidelines on using race that were developed for the officers during the litigation, and said the officers could also be made aware of significant statistical disparities related to race. The judge suggested that Harvard could do more to guard against the unconscious biases of admissions officers, echoing an argument that the plaintiff made at trial. Still, she said that Harvard’s admissions process was “not perfect.” Judge Burroughs cleared the university of all four claims. Students for Fair Admissions made four interrelated claims: that Harvard intentionally discriminated against Asian-Americans that it used race as a predominant factor in admissions decisions that it racially balanced its classes and that it had considered applicants’ race without first exhausting race-neutral alternatives to create diversity. Harvard did this, they said, in part by downgrading applications from Asian-Americans based on a subjective rating system that was vulnerable to stereotyping. Led by Edward Blum, a conservative activist who waged previous battles against affirmative action, the students accused the college of violating federal civil rights law by holding Asian-Americans, who as a group get better test scores and grades than other races, to a higher standard. The plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, represents a group of Asian-American students rejected by Harvard. The decision will be appealed and is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court. ![]() The case drew widespread scrutiny, including from dozens of other top-ranked colleges that expressed their support in court filings, and from the Justice Department, which backed the plaintiff and is pursuing its own investigation. “Diversity,” she wrote, “will foster the tolerance, acceptance and understanding that will ultimately make race conscious admissions obsolete.” In her decision, Judge Burroughs defended the benefits of diversity, saying it was not yet time to look beyond race in college admissions.
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