4/1/08 Cornell Sun: "Asian Community Center Plan Discussed at Forum": The Asian student population has risen from just 4.5 percent in 1980 to 17.7 percent in 2007.  

4/1/08 The Dartmouth: "College admits 2,190 applicants,"
By Anya Perret
    Admissions to the Class of 2012 were the most selective in Dartmouth 's history - the College accepted just 13.2 percent of applicants, down from last year's record 15.3 percent, the Admissions Office announced Monday. The College received a record 16,536 applications for admission into the Class of 2012 - 2,361 more applications than were submitted for the class of 2011.
    Dartmouth offered admission to 2,190 of the applicants for the class of 2012, 400 of which were offered spaces during the early admissions process, according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris '84.
    Admitted members to the Class of 2012 also set academic records, with 93.4 percent ranking in the top 10 percent of their secondary school's graduating class, as opposed to last year's 91 percent. Of those admitted, 38.5 percent are valedictorians, and 11.3 percent are salutatorians. The mean SAT scores for admitted students are 726 Verbal, 731 Math and 726 Writing.
    Within the Class of 2012, 43 percent, 944 students, identify as students of color, the largest number and highest percentage in the College's history.  The Class of 2011 held the previous record, at 41 percent, although only 33 percent of students that chose to matriculate identify as students of color, Laskaris said.
    In this year's pool of accepted students, 403  [18.4%] identify as Asian-American; 224 [10.2%] identify as African-American; 216 [9.9%] identify as Latino; 82 [3.7%] identify as Native American and 19 [0.9%] identify as multi-racial.
    Representing 59 nations, 178 international students make up 8 percent of the admitted students. The Class of 2011 is 9 percent international students.

 

4/1/08 Harvard Gazette: A record pool leads to a record-low admission rate, 
    A record applicant pool of 27,462 has led to an admission rate of 7.1 percent, the lowest in the history of Harvard College . Traditional admission letters (and e-mails) were sent on March 31 to 1,948 students. Last year 2,058 applicants were admitted from a pool of 22,955. 
    This year's applicant pool reflects the level of excellence typical of recent years. For example, over 2,500 scored a perfect 800 on their SAT critical reading test; 3,300 scored 800 on the SAT math; and over 3,300 were ranked first in their high school classes. 
    A record 11 percent of admitted students are from African-American backgrounds, 18.5 percent are Asian American, 9.7 percent are Latino, and 1.3 percent are Native American.  


7/13/08 New Jersey Star-Ledger: Princeton is accused of anti-Asian biases
by Ana M. Alaya
    For decades, critics of affirmative action have contended elite colleges, in their zeal to form racially diverse student bodies, have discriminated against top white applicants.
    In a twist on that long-running feud, federal authorities are investigating an allegation that Princeton University discriminates against Asian-American applicants by accepting black and Hispanic stu dents with lower entrance scores.
    At the heart of both arguments lies the question of whether and how colleges should consider race when choosing a class. The Supreme Court has ruled race can be a factor in the process, though racial quotas have long been declared unconstitutional.
    Critics say admission quotas remain a dirty little secret in academia.
    "There is almost no other area that colleges consistently lie about," said Russell Nieli, a professor in Princeton 's department of politics, who recently published an essay titled "Is there an Asian Ceiling?"
    Princeton , for its part, denies using quotas. The university declined, however, to release admissions data broken down by race and test scores, spokeswoman Cass Cliatt said, "because we don't want anyone to make the mistake that we make admissions decisions by category."
    The federal review at Princeton -- which adamantly denies it discriminates against Asians -- was sparked by a complaint filed in 2006 by Livingston High School graduate and Asian immigrant Jian Li. He claims he was rejected by Princeton and other elite universities despite graduating in the top 1 percent of his high school class, earning various honors outside the classroom and nailing perfect SAT scores.
    Nieli said Li's complaint, be cause it was made by an Asian- American, may carry more weight with proponents of racial preferences.
    "The people making these decisions are post-'60s guilty white limousine liberals," Nieli said. "They don't take a protest by a white person as seriously as one by a Chinese or Japanese or Korean student."
    Others argue Asian students are wrongfully being used as racial mascots in the battle against affirmative action. Advocates claim affirmative action policies can help Asian students, because diverse classes help dispel lingering biases against minority groups.
    "I have a hard time buying the argument that this particular student suffered serious harm," said Vincent Pan, a Millburn native who now heads Chinese for Affirmative Action in San Francisco . "There is a need to balance the private interest and the public interest, and in this case I think affirmative action does that well."
    Li, who could not be reached for comment, went to Yale and transferred to Harvard, according to other published reports.
    In January, the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights expanded its review be yond Li's case to include all admissions policies for Asian-American students for the Class of 2010 at Princeton .
    In his complaint, Li accused the Ivy League institutions of a "historical and ongoing" use of racial preferences for admissions, including bias against Jews at Princeton in the early 1900s.
    He also cited a 2005 study by two Princeton researchers who found eliminating racial considerations at three unnamed elite universities would increase the admission rate for Asian Americans, while that of African-Americans and Hispanics would plum met.
    At Princeton , race is one factor, including socioeconomic background, extracurricular talents and academic record, considered during the admissions process, Cliatt said. Building a diverse class is like forming an "orchestra," that may need different talents from year to year, she added. About half the applicants with perfect SAT scores were ad mitted to the class Li applied to; 14 percent of that class is Asian. Almost half of Princeton 's incoming class this year are students of color.
    A commitment to "acting affirmatively to ensure diversity," Cliatt said, is not the same as discriminating.
    Li's complaint has been closely watched by the Ivy League schools, in part, because he asked for a suspension of federal funding to the university until it eliminates not only racial preferences, but also athletic preferences and legacy preferences, which universities historically give to children of alumni.
    Ward Connerly, a former member of the University of California Board of Regents, and the architect of anti-affirmative action initiatives in California , Washington and Michigan , said the federal investigation is going to force "a very exacting examination of what Princeton is doing." He said it will get the attention of universities nationwide, contending discrimination against Asian-Americans is widespread.
    Still, proving discrimination at Princeton or any college may be difficult, because colleges don't use a specific formula for admissions, according to David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
    Roughly 30 to 40 percent of colleges consider race in admissions, according to the association, and some 70 percent of institutions have a stated commitment to diversity.

7/13/08 www.discriminations.us: “Princeton Receives Weekly Chutzpah Award,”
by John Rosenberg  
    "What weekly chutzpah award?" you may well ask.  You're right. At the moment DISCRIMINATIONS doesn't bestow a weekly chutzpah award, but if it did this week's would go to Princeton .
    Regular readers will be aware of Jian Li's complaint that Princeton discriminates against Asian applicants by holding them to a higher standard than others, a case I discussed here http://www.discriminations.us/2006/11/preferences_as_a_zerosum_game.html. Li's complaint is being investigated by the Department of Education, and in fact has been broadened, causing nervous jitters across all Ivy Leaguedom.
    Today's Trenton Star Ledger has an article <http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-11/12159237 422985 60.xml&coll=1>  about Li's case today that avoids most common pitfalls of mainstream media news coverage of racial preferences ... except this one: author Ana M. Alaya writes:
    "For decades, critics of affirmative action have contended elite colleges, in their zeal to form racially diverse student bodies, have discriminated against top white applicants.
   In a twist on that long-running feud, federal authorities are investigating an allegation that Princeton University discriminates against Asian-American applicants by accepting black and Hispanic students with lower entrance scores.
    At the heart of both arguments lies the question of whether and how colleges should consider race when choosing a class...."
   But there is no new "twist" here; there is only one argument, not two: awarding benefits or burdens based on race is wrong, no matter who receives either burden or benefit. Ms. Alaya's contrary assertion is rather like arguing that opposition to the state awarding preferential treatment to Jews and Catholics is really two arguments, rather than one argument based on the principle of separation of church and state.
    But that slip pales into insignificance compared to the following remark that earned Princeton the much un-coveted DISCRIMINATIONS Chutzpah of the Week Award (or would if there were such an award):
    " Princeton , for its part, denies using quotas. The university declined, however, to release admissions data broken down by race and test scores, spokeswoman Cass Cliatt said, "because we don't want anyone to make the mistake that we make admissions decisions by category.""
    Translated from diversity-speak, what Ms. Cass Cliatt is saying on behalf of Princeton is that the release of admissions data revealing that Asian applicants had to jump over a much higher hurdle might cause the gullible public to make the "mistake" of concluding that ... Asian applicants had to jump over a much higher hurdle.
    Nevertheless, it's still not clear exactly why Princeton is afraid to release this data, since it claims to believe that discriminating against Asians is not really discrimination.
    A commitment to "acting affirmatively to ensure diversity," Cliatt said, is not the same as discriminating.
   The problem here, as most people not entwined in the "diversity" industry and rationale can see, is that at places like Princeton "acting affirmatively to ensure diversity" requires acting negatively when evaluating the applications of a whole host of people like Jian Li.
    But wait! There's more entertainment from Ms. Cass Cliatt of Princeton .
    "At Princeton , race is one factor, including socioeconomic background, extracurricular talents and academic record, considered during the admissions process, Cliatt said. Building a diverse class is like forming an "orchestra," that may need different talents from year to year, she added...."
    Excuse me, but don't most orchestras have, well, quotas for their string, wind, percussion, etc., sections (or are these only "goals"?)?
    In short, if words have meaning Princeton believes that choosing some applicants and rejecting others on the basis of their race or ethnicity is no different from filling a violin vacancy with a violinist.
    Despite decades of tutelage to the contrary from Princeton et. al., liberals, Democrats, etc., most Americans continue to march to the tune of a different drummer, believing that everyone should be treated without regard to their race or ethnicity. Being black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or whatever, is simply not the same as playing an oboe or plucking a guitar.
    And that's not just whistlin Dixie .

6/11/08 Inside Higher Education: “Inquiry Into Alleged Anti-Asian Bias Expands,”
by Scott Jaschik
    A complaint by an Asian American student that racial bias blocked his admission to Princeton University has been expanded by the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights into a broader “compliance review” of the issues involved beyond his case.
    The complaint, filed in 2006, has been viewed as significant by critics of affirmative action who argue — as does the rejected applicant — that highly competitive colleges’ commitment to diversity results in differential standards for members of different groups, with Asian American applicants held to tougher standards. Many college officials — most of whom strongly support affirmative action — have dismissed the applicant’s complaint as sour grapes, noting that Princeton each year rejects thousands of well qualified applicants of every racial and ethnic group.
    The Education Department, responding to an inquiry, acknowledged the shift of the investigation from focusing on one complaint to Princeton ’s entire admissions system and its treatment of Asian-American applicants. A department spokesman stressed that converting the investigation did not mean that officials had come to any conclusions about the original complaint. But at the very least, the shift suggests that the government does not view the complaint as frivolous. OCR regularly shuts down complaint investigations, concluding that no violation of the law took place, and the agency has limited resources for compliance reviews. Compliance reviews cover much more ground than any single complaint, tend to take place on issues that the department believes are important, and are sometimes used to nudge other colleges to change policies when they see how one college fared in a review.
    Official OCR guidelines give three reasons for converting a single complaint into a compliance review: “(a) the complaint, because of its scope, involves systemic issues; (b) a compliance review would be the most effective means of addressing multiple individual complaints against the same recipient; or (c) the complainant decides to withdraw a complaint that includes class allegations.”
    Cass Cliatt, a spokeswoman for Princeton , said that the university was pleased by the broadening of the investigation.
    “We actually welcome the opportunity to talk about this,” Cliatt said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about how colleges and universities use the process. We’re happy to explain to OCR how we do this.” She stressed that the university in no way discriminates against any applicant on the basis of race or ethnicity.
    Princeton received a then-record 17,564 applications to Princeton ’s class of 2010, the class to which the student who filed the complaint wanted to be admitted. The eventual class that enrolled had only 1,231 students, of whom 37 percent were American ethnic minorities and 14 percent were Asian Americans. Cliatt declined to release information on the SAT averages or grades of applicants of different racial or ethnic groups, saying that Princeton doesn’t analyze data in this way and that to do so would be confusing since Princeton does not evaluate individual applicants based on race or ethnicity. “We don’t want to have the mistaken belief that we are making categories when we are not,” she said.
    The student who filed the original complaint against Princeton, Jian Li, arguably landed well after his rejection: He enrolled at Yale University . Li’s complaint stated that he received 800s on the mathematics, critical reading and writing parts of the SAT, that he graduated in the top 1 percent of his high school class, that he completed nine Advanced Placement classes by the time he finished high school, and that he had been active in extracurricular activities as well — serving as a delegate at Boys State, working in Costa Rica, etc. While Li left the ethnicity question blank on his application (as Princeton allows), he said that other questions that he was required to answer — his name, his mother’s and father’s names, his first language (Chinese), and the language spoken in his home (Chinese) — all made his ethnicity clear.
    In letters sent by OCR to members of New Jersey ’s Congressional delegation, the investigation of Princeton is described as focusing on the allegation that the university discriminates against Asian American applicants. But Li’s complaint and the analysis behind it attempt to shift the debate more broadly to one about affirmative action.
    Li is pointing to research by two Princeton scholars, published in Social Science Quarterly, that looked at admissions decisions at elite colleges. The scholars found that without affirmative action, the acceptance rate for African American candidates would be likely to fall by nearly two-thirds, from 33.7 percent to 12.2 percent, while the acceptance rate for Hispanic applicants probably would be cut in half, from 26.8 percent to 12.9 percent. While white admit rates would stay steady, Asian students would be big winners under such a system. Their admission rate in a race-neutral system would go to 23.4 percent, from 17.6 percent. And their share of a class of admitted students would rise to 31.5 percent, from 23.7 percent.
    The complaint and the allegations of anti-Asian bias have been sensitive at Princeton and elsewhere. Princeton, like other elite colleges, changed admissions policies in the 1920s as the number of Jewish applicants appeared poised to rise, and adopted an emphasis on “character” that scholars say was used to minimize non-Protestant enrollments. While Princeton has long abandoned such policies, some Asian American students see similarities between the treatment of Jewish applicants then and Asian applicants today. Many guidance counselors at high schools with many top Asian American students report that their Asian American applicants appear to need significantly higher SAT scores or grades to win admission to highly competitive colleges than do members of other ethnic or racial groups.
    When Li first filed his complaint, many Asian-American students at Princeton criticized him for not accepting a college denial. But when The Daily Princetonian’s joke issue last year featured a parody of Li, in mock Asian dialect, the satire infuriated many Asian American leaders on the campus and elsewhere and prompted broad debates over the status of Asian Americans at elite colleges.
    Just this week, a report issued by the College Board and a panel of experts on Asian Americans made the case that despite the successes of some Asian American students, more attention needs to be paid to the many who don’t get 800 SAT’s or take nine AP courses. The report argued that affirmative action does not hold back Asian Americans and cited studies showing that Asian Americans benefit from affirmative action in some cases, such as law school admissions.
    The section in the report on affirmative action briefly alluded to the study cited by Li that found that the elimination of affirmative action would get more Asian American applicants admitted to highly competitive colleges. The report argues that there are “no winners” in college systems losing black and Latino students, and warns that a focus on Asian American students and the impact of affirmative action on their admission bids are “excuses not to deal with the failure our education system and the complex and interwoven nature of how race and racism operate in the United States.”

4/2/08 Stanford Daily: Room to remain for transfers- Stanford to accept transfer applicants despite halting of  process at Harvard, Princeton ,
    Director of Admission Shawn Abbott said a racial breakdown of the admitted class at Stanford - a record-low 9.5 percent of the 25,298 applicants - could not be provided to the public.  "We never release any racial breakdowns of the admitted freshman class," he said. "It has been the University's long-standing policy not to do this."
    [Translation: "We are Bigots for the Left.  We are discriminating against Asian Americans and we don't want to release statistics which would make our illegal actions obvious.]
    Abbott did say that well over half of the 2,400 admits were students 
of color. The Office of Admission also announced in its Friday 
statement that 431 accepted students will be the first in their families to attend a four-year college or university.



3/28/08 Swarthmore College: "Swarthmore Admits 929 Students to Class of 2012- 15%  Accepted from Record Pool of 6,118 Applications,"
    Swarthmore College has sent letters of admission to prospective members of the Class of 2012. A total of 929 students have been accepted-15 percent of the record 6,118 who applied.  Based on previous admissions patterns, Swarthmore expects this group of admitted students to yield a first-year class of about 370 for next fall.
    Fifty-three percent of all accepted students identify themselves as domestic students of color. Latino/a students make up 19 percent of the admitted class; Asian Americans 18 percent; and, African Americans, 15 percent. Four students self identify as Native American.

7/17/08 The Daily Californian Online: “Regents Debate Proposal to Water Down UC Freshman Admissions Policy In Order To Reduce the Number of Asian Americans”
by Kelly Fitzpatrick
    Discussion of a proposal to change the university's freshman admissions policy yielded to confusion and debate at a UC Board of Regents committee meeting yesterday on whether the proposal's adoption would be positive for the UC system.
    "The purpose (of the proposal) is to provide a broader swath of students the opportunity to make the case that they're qualified for the UC," said UC Davis professor Mark Rashid, chair of the university faculty's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, which drafted the proposal.
    In particular, the proposal to lower the required GPA for UC eligibility from a weighted 3.0 to an unweighted 2.8 drew some negative reactions from the regents.
    Regent Judith Hopkinson expressed concern about lowering the minimum GPA, which she said could make a huge impact on the state's K-12 system.
    Another point of contention surrounds changing measures of statewide eligibility and local eligibility. Current local eligibility policy provides that the top 4 percent of students in their respective California high schools are automatically UC eligible. Statewide eligibility provides that the top 12.5 percent of all California students are also UC eligible, as outlined by the California Master Plan for Higher Education.
    If the regents pass the proposal, which would take effect for freshmen entering the university in fall 2012, the top 9 percent of students in their high schools and the top 9 percent of students in the state would be guaranteed eligibility.
    Regent George Marcus noted that the changes, while widening the pool of eligible students, might also have unintended consequences, such as a negative public perception of the university.
    "Basically, we're going to take a seat away from someone who followed the rules for someone who didn't follow the rules; we're lowering our standards," Marcus said, in what he called a "gross generalization" of how the public could perceive the changes.
    Though many of the regents expressed their admiration for the work of Rashid and his board members, others said they were concerned about the proposal's impact and troubled by the lack of time to review the proposal.
    "We need to get on with this, but I want to do it in a way where everyone around the table has had all their questions answered and all the information to make an informed decision," said Regent Eddie Island , chair of the Educational Policy Committee, in which the proposal was considered.
    The committee is slated to resume discussion about the proposal today, and a vote on whether to implement the changes is expected this afternoon.

7/17/08 U.S. News: “To Reduce Number of Asian Americans, UC Discusses Radical Change to Admissions,”
    Admissions to the University of California could see a major overhaul for the freshman class of 2012, a change meant to open up the university to low-income, minority, rural, and inner-city students, the Daily Californian reports.
    The proposal, discussed in length at the UC regents meeting yesterday, would lower grade-point average minimums, emphasize class rankings, drop the requirement for SAT subject tests, and guarantee admissions for the top 9 percent of senior classes, as opposed to the 4 percent currently in use.
    "This represents the biggest change in [UC's] eligibility policy since there has been an eligibility policy," said Mark Rashid, the UC-Davis engineering professor who chaired the faculty committee that developed the proposal.
    The plan would also relax college-prep course and test score standards and reduce UC's guaranteed admissions target, giving flexibility to find students who have not met the junior-year eligibility requirements but can show they are on the right track. "The purpose [of the proposal] is to provide a broader swath of students the opportunity to make the case that they're qualified for the UC," Rashid said.
    The plan would most likely not affect the system's elite campuses, such as Berkeley and Los Angeles , but less selective colleges could "see a substantial shift in the makeup of their freshman classes," according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
    Several regents remain skeptical, and new UC President Mark Yudof, attending his first regents meeting yesterday, has asked for more time to review the changes. Said a UC regent: "This is too important to rush through and too important to delay."

4/14/08 press release, www.universityofcalifornia.edu:
    UC admitted a record number of freshman students for the fall 2008 term. 
A total of 60,008 California high school seniors were offered admission, a 4.7 percent increase of admitted students (+2,690) over the fall 2007 term (57,318). Overall, 75.3 percent of fall 2008 California freshman applicants have been offered admission to the university, compared with 77.4 percent for fall 2007. The decline in the admissions rate is attributed to the fact that the growth in the number of applicants outpaced the growth in the number of admissions offers. The university will offer a space to every California resident applicant who is UC-eligible.
    Nearly 9 out of 10 admitted students are California residents. Admissions offers to out-of-state and international students numbered 7,545, an increase of over fall 2007 (6,283), and bringing the total number of applicants offered admission to the fall term to 67,553 students. 
    Universitywide, the admission of Chicano/Latino students increased by 16 percent, followed by African-American students (11.3 percent), white students (1.2 percent) and Asian-American students (0.7 percent) compared with fall 2007 outcomes. The increase in admissions offers closely track the increases of each group in the applicant pool. The percent of American Indian students decline slightly (-2.6 percent), or 11 fewer admits than fall 2007. The percentage of students who declined to state their ethnicity increased 12.3 percent from the previous year.
    Underrepresented students -- African Americans, American Indians and Chicano/Latinos make up 25.1 percent of UC admits, up from 22.9 percent for fall 2007. All campuses registered gains in the proportion of underrepresented students in their admitted class.
    Universitywide, UC continues to excel at offering opportunity and access to students from families that have traditionally not enjoyed the benefits of higher education. Just over 39 percent of freshman admits come from families where neither parent has a four-year degree, 36.8 percent come from low-income families, and 1 out of 5 admitted students is enrolled in a high school that is in the lower 40 percent of California high schools, as ranked by the Academic Performance Index (API) score.
    Note: The admissions outcomes are preliminary and focus entirely on admission of freshman applicants. Transfer admissions data will be available mid-May. These data reflect admission as of March 31, 2008, and except as noted, are for California resident students only.
    Some campuses will continue to admit small numbers of applicants.  Unless otherwise noted, the universitywide totals are "unduplicated," meaning that each student is counted only once. Data provided for individual campuses typically 
reflect multiple admissions offers; on average, fall 2008 freshman applicants applied to 3.6 UC campuses. In making year-to-year comparisons, note that the fall 2004 cycle was anomalous because state budget difficulties resulted in a reduction in the number of students UC was able to admit.
    For more information and tables about 2008 freshman admissions to UC:
www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2008adm.html 
    For individual campus admissions data:
    UC Berkeley
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/14_admissions08.shtml>
    UC Davis
http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8513 
    UCLA
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-admissions-data-show-high-48543.aspx 
    UC San Diego
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/04-08FreshmenAdmissionsData.asp 
    UC Santa Barbara
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1756

4/14/08 press release: "Campus releases freshman admission data,"
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/14_admissions08.shtml
By Janet Gilmore
    Berkeley - University of California , Berkeley, officials today announced that they have offered admission to 12,616 high school students for the 2008-2009 school year, following an exceptionally competitive admissions cycle propelled by a marked increase in applications.
    Of those offered admission, 10,388 were admitted to the fall 2008 term that begins in late August and another 2,228 to the spring 2009 semester that starts in January.
    More than 48,400 students applied for admission to the fall 2008 class, up almost 10 percent from the approximately 44,100 who applied for admission to the fall 2007 class.
    The admissions rate - the number of students offered admission compared to the number who applied - for the fall 2008 term was 21.5 percent, down from 23.2 percent for fall 2007. UC Berkeley offered admission to 175 more students than last year, but because of the increase in applications from all groups including California residents, out-of-state students and international students, the admissions rate dropped.
    Analysis of the 2008-09 admissions data reflects the following:
    The fall 2008 freshman admitted class remains as strong as that of the previous year's admitted class. The students have an average total SAT I score of 2034, up from 2029 for fall 2007; their average GPA (on a 4.0 scale) is 3.87, the same as last year.
    Percentage-wise, the racial and ethnic diversity of the fall 2008 admitted class is comparable to that of last year's class.
    Additional detailed admissions data is available at:
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/14_admits_table.shtml

7/7/08 USA Today: “Opposing view: Race is deciding factor; University admissions unfairly pit Asian Americans against one another,”
by Owen Leong
    On a summer night in June 2000, four friends and I waited eagerly outside a local high school for 8 a.m. to arrive. It was 1 a.m., yet we were not alone. At least 200 other students had already formed a line behind us. While waiting, I glanced back and noticed the demographics; they were mostly Asian Americans. Not surprisingly, considering that the majority of students attending this high school, located 24 miles east of Los Angeles , are Asian Americans, which also included me and my friends.
    What was the purpose? Well, we were all competing for one of the few spots to take chemistry and other accelerated courses during the summer. But most important, we wanted to stand out against other college applicants, especially Asian American students, who had similarly high grade point averages and near-perfect SAT scores. If taking chemistry one semester earlier was going to give us an edge for admission to an elite college, then it was worth the seven-hour wait.
    Every year, colleges consider far more applicants than they can accept. Yet in many cases, a disproportionate number of qualified applicants are Asian American, thus making it difficult for colleges to keep an ethnically diverse campus while still trying to admit all qualified students. Hence, many Asian American students, including me, believe that we are unfairly pitted against one another in admissions, not just judged blindly against all.
    The competition was not limited to just applying for summer school spots. In my honors and Advance Placement classes, 75% of my classmates were Asian American. With the school continually limiting the number of students in honors and AP courses each year, we had to compete for these coveted spots, often with other Asian American students.
    We all believed that taking regular classes would be grounds to deny us admission because another applicant was taking the honors equivalent. So while colleges continue to deny that race is used as a deciding factor, as Asian American students, we know that our ethnic background makes our chances of getting in even harder.
    Owen Leong graduated from the University of California-Berkeley in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in art.

4/14/2008 press release: "UCLA Violates Proposition 209; Holistic Review Reduces Percentage of Asian American Students Admitted,"
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-admissions-data-show-high-48543.aspx
By Claudia Luther
    UCLA, the most popular campus in the nation, with 55,397 freshman applicants, announced today that it had admitted 12,579 prospective freshmen for fall 2008. Of these students, 18.1 percent, or 2,164, were underrepresented minorities - a 1.5 percentage-point increase over last year.
    The number of African American freshmen admitted rose to 440 (3.7 percent), up from 407 (3.5 percent) last year, while the number of Latino/Chicano admitted freshmen increased to 1,682 (14.1 percent), from 1,474 (12.7 percent) in 2007. Native American freshmen numbered 42 (0.4 percent), compared with 45 (0.4 percent) last year.
    This is the second consecutive year that UCLA has used a "holistic" process for evaluating applications, in which each application is read and considered in its entirety by two trained readers; in previous years, two readers reviewed student academic records while a third reviewed life challenges and other personal achievements. The UCLA Academic Senate made the change because the faculty believed a more individualized and qualitative assessment of each applicant's entire application would better achieve the University of California Regents ' goal of comprehensive review.  The holistic approach emphasizes students' achievements in the context of opportunities available to them and how students have taken advantage of those opportunities.
    Reflecting an increase in the overall number of applications, the university was able to admit 22.7 percent of all those who applied, compared with 23.6 percent last year. The university expects a class of approximately 4,700 to begin their studies in September.
    Academically, UCLA's admitted freshmen were again very strong. The overall grade-point average was 4.34, compared with 4.29 last year. The average composite score for the SAT reasoning test remained steady at 2,000, out of a possible 2,400. The average math score was 683, the average reading score was 653 and the average writing score was 664 - all approximately what they were last year. Admitted freshmen took an average of 19.9 honors courses and completed nearly 50.9 college preparatory semester courses - far above the minimum of 30 that is required.
    Of the admitted students, 4,804, or 40.2 percent, were Asian American, a drop of 2.6 percent from last year.  Asian Americans made up 42.8 percent (4,975) of the admitted freshman class in 2007, 45.6 percent (5,390) in 2006, 42.5 percent (4,710) in 2005 and 42 percent (4,049) in 2004.
    The percentage of whites/Caucasians was approximately the same as last year: 33.1 percent (3,953), compared with 33.2 percent (3,860) in 2007. That compares with 32.1 percent (3,791) for 2006, 33.6 percent (3,723) for 2005 and 33.5 percent (3,230) for 2004.
    In other categories, admissions data show that 7.4 percent (885) of admitted applicants declined to state their race or ethnicity and that 1.2 percent (138) identified themselves as "other."
    Information about admitted California freshmen at University of California campuses is available at www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2008adm.html. More than 60,000 high school seniors were offered admission at UC campuses.
    UCLA is California 's largest university, with an enrollment of nearly 37,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer more than 300 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Four alumni and five faculty members have been awarded the Nobel Prize.
    NOTE: Fall 2008 figures are extracted from March 31 files and do not reflect final figures. The data used reflect information about domestic students, except for the total numbers of applicants and admits, which include international students. This year's figures are compared with official data from 2007. Admissions numbers will change slightly, with final official data available in October 2008. Data provided by the University of California Office of the President are for California residents only.

4/2/08 The Daily Pennsylvanian: "Admit rate increases to 16.4 percent- Penn only Ivy thus far to not set a record-low acceptance rate, admits 3,769 students,”
By Naomi Jagoda
    In contrast to the other Ivy League schools, Penn's overall acceptance rate increased to 16.4 percent for the class of 2012.  Penn is the only Ivy League school thus far that has not reported a record-low acceptance rate.
    This admissions cycle, Penn admitted a total of 3,769 of 22,922 applications. Last year, 22,646 students applied and 3,628 were accepted - a rate of 16 percent.
    Average SAT scores increased this year from 2137 to 2153 out of a possible 2400.
    More minority students were accepted this year.  The number of black students admitted went up from 422 to 432, the number of Latino students accepted increased from 311 to 355 and the number of Asian-American applicants accepted increased from 769 to 851.  There was a decrease in the number of Native-American students admitted, down from 20 last year to 15 this year.

4/8/08 Austin American-Statesman:  “UT sued for considering race in admissions Rejected student, who is white, contends university discriminated,”
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
    The University of Texas is violating the Constitution and civil rights laws by considering race and ethnicity in deciding whether to admit undergraduates, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday by a white student whose application was rejected.
    The plaintiff, Abigail Noel Fisher, 18, lives in Richmond , southwest of Houston , and attends Stephen F. Austin High School in nearby Sugar Land . Despite ranking in the top 12 percent of her class, scoring 1180 out of a possible 1600 on the SAT, and playing the cello, she was rejected last month by UT, says the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Austin .
    UT and other public universities in Texas are required by state law to accept any student from Texas who ranks in the top 10 percent of his or her high school.
    UT considers race and ethnicity, among other factors, in deciding whether to admit other students as part of its effort to boost enrollment of Hispanics and blacks.
    "But for her race and ethnicity, it is our belief she would have been admitted to the University of Texas ," said Edward Blum, director of the Project on Fair Representation, a legal-defense group that fights the use of race and ethnicity in public policy.
    The group, based in Washington , is underwriting part of the litigation costs, and Fisher's lawyer, Bert Rein, is contributing some of his services for free, Blum said.    
    The lawsuit contends that UT has run afoul of a 2003 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the University of Michigan that said race and ethnicity could be considered under certain circumstances. Fisher's suit argues that affirmative action is allowed only after race-neutral approaches are found inadequate.
    Patti Ohlendorf, UT's vice president for legal affairs, said the school's admissions policies comply with Supreme Court precedent and applicable laws.
    "Each year, we are very fortunate to receive applications from thousands of very able high school seniors. But as with many universities around the country, we are limited in the number of applicants we can admit," she said.
    This isn't the first time UT's admissions policies have been challenged in court. A 1996 federal court ruling involving UT effectively banned affirmative action at public colleges and universities in Texas .  That prompted state lawmakers to enact the top 10 percent law in 1997.
    After the Supreme Court's Michigan ruling, UT resumed considering race and ethnicity in admissions. UT officials contend that the top 10 percent law hasn't done enough to boost minority enrollment and have asked lawmakers to scale it back, saying that would allow them to enroll more minority students.
    Fisher's lawsuit asks the court to end UT's consideration of race and to order that she be admitted if she qualifies under race-neutral factors.
    Blum, a 1973 graduate of UT and a part-time Austin resident, said hundreds of other students have been unfairly rejected, and he urged them to join the case.