Why I Support Affirmative Action at Harvard

Guest Post by Jason Fong



This month, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a national affiliation of civil rights organizations focused on serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, and several prospective AAPI Harvard students joined a diverse group of black, Latino, and Native American students to support Harvard's race conscious admissions program against attacks that the program intentionally discriminates against Asian American applicants. I am one of those students.

I joined this effort because like the majority of Asian Americans, I support affirmative action, but I also did so because I think our community needs to reflect upon our shared identity as Asian Americans, especially in light of recent lawsuits by a few disappointed Chinese Americans who blame race-conscious admissions programs for their failure to gain admission to their dream schools. With the composition of the United States Supreme Court skewing even more sharply to the right under a Trump administration, the narrow majority that upheld affirmative action in Fisher II could reverse by the time the lawsuit against Harvard reaches the highest court, putting race-conscious admissions policies throughout the country in serious jeopardy.

For me, this fight isn't about my Harvard application. In fact, I know that, like 95% of almost 40,000 applicants, I'm likely to be rejected. But I won't take it personally. I don't depend on Harvard to provide me with self-worth in an admissions letter. Like other institutions, it's looking out for itself -- and trying to build a class that it feels best serves its goals.

Asian American Students File to Join Harvard Lawsuit and Defend Affirmative Action

By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.



Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (AAAJ-LA) held a press conference moments ago to announce that lawyers with the group will represent two Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) high school students who wish to present their support of race-conscious affirmative action admission before the Supreme Court if and when the justices hear arguments next year about an anti-affirmative action lawsuit filed against the school by Edward Blum, the architect behind Abigail Fisher’s earlier failed attempts to dismantle affirmative action before the Court.

The two AAPI high school students represented by AAAJ-LA are current applicants to Harvard University, and both believe that race-conscious affirmative action is beneficial; AAAJ-LA filed paperwork yesterday to help the students join an existing group of diverse students who will have "amicus plus" status to present their support for affirmative action in a pending anti-affirmative action case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.

In the Students for Fair Admissions case, lobbyist Edward Blum specifically recruited disgruntled Asian American students to serve as the next Abigail Fisher, in hopes of weaponizing a stereotyped, Model Minority Myth narrative of Asian Americans against other students of colour. Blum’s lawsuit alleging bias at Harvard was ultimately consolidated around the case of a still-unnamed Chinese American woman.