In 2010-11, Harvard had undergraduate student enrollment of 10,265 Students, 14.1% Asian. In 2021-22, Harvard’s enrollment was 9,579 students, 18.3 % Asian – a whopping 29.6% increase in Asian representation! Since single year comparisons can be misleading – looking at the most recent year 2021-2022 compared to the weighted average of the 11 prior years, Harvard increased its % of Asian students by a still hefty 10.8%.
Yet, Harvard is being sued by a group of Asian students who contend that Harvard discriminates against Asians to suppress the number of Asian students. This attack is directed at Harvard’s affirmative action policy, to which the plaintiffs contend Harvard’s race conscious admissions process hold Asian Americans to a higher standard when it comes to test scores, and ignore other important aspects of the applicants.
The group was founded by a white conservative tactician, Edward Blum, who has been long fighting against solutions to racial injustice, not only trying to dismantle affirmative action but voting rights as well. Blum filed the same suit against the University of Texas at Austin in 2016, but lost with the majority of the Supreme Court upholding UT Austin’s affirmative action policies. After losing the case, Blum even admitted that he needed more Asian plaintiffs. Because similar cases against affirmative action using white students have failed in the past, critics are saying Blum is using Asian students instead to gain more sympathy with the now majority conservative Supreme Court, and who have been open to dismantling affirmative action.
But has affirmative action really been hurting Asian students instead of helping them? Let’s look at the facts about Harvard Enrollment (US Department of Education IPEDS data, Undergraduate Fall Enrollment numbers for all periods referenced):
| Harvard Undergraduate Enrollment (Fall 2021) | Number of Students | % of Students |
|---|---|---|
| ASIAN | 1,750 | 18.3% |
| BLACK OR AFRICAN-AMERICAN | 776 | 8.1% |
| HISPANIC | 1,077 | 11.2% |
| NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER | 13 | 0.1% |
| WHITE | 3,283 | 34.3% |
| TWO OR MORE RACES | 633 | 6.6% |
| AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKA NATIVE | 21 | 0.2% |
| RACE ETHNICITY UNKNOWN | 736 | 7.7% |
| NON-RESIDENT ALIEN (INTERNATIONAL) | 1,290 | 13.5% |
For the categories with the largest number of students, the comparison is striking:
| Ethnicity | 2021 vs 2010 | 2021 vs Prior 11 Years |
|---|---|---|
| Asian | +29.6% | +10.8% |
| Black/African American | +28.9% | +17.9% |
| Hispanic | +35.8% | +12.1% |
| White | -33.8% | -23.2% |
| International Students | +33.7% | +21.6% |
Overall, studies suggest that Asian Americans have benefited from affirmative action as much as other groups. There is little evidence backing the claim that affirmative action is the main problem hampering Asian Americans students’ enrollment numbers at certain elite universities. What the studies are showing, however, is that the people who would be most proportionately affected by the attack on affirmative action would be Black and Hispanic students.
Having a more diverse society means that literally, institutions and organizations have to be deliberate in how they organize themselves and who they select to be part of those institutions and organizations. Studies show that having a diverse group of individuals can engender better, more thoughtful results.
Harvard's stance is two-fold:
- They are a private institution and can make their choices according to their needs/requirements
- They evaluate diversity including academic, socio-economic, athletic, cultural, race (ethnicity), skills, etc.
Harvard has already significantly increased the number of Asian students. For the first time in its 380-year history, Harvard’s freshman class of 2021 was made up with 50.8 percent of its admitted students being minorities. Furthermore, if one thinks that Colleges and Universities should broadly represent the overall US population or the Students attending college (Undergraduate Students at 4-Year Public/Private Non-Profit Schools), then the argument can be made that Harvard’s Asian and International students are overrepresented and Harvard may have TOO MANY Asian and International students.
Green is Over-represented and Red is Under-represented. US Census by Ethnicity for reference.
| 2021-22 Undergraduate Enrollment |
Harvard % | All 4-Year Public/Private Non-Profit Schools | Harvard Index versus All 4-Year Public/Private Non-Profit Schools |
US Population 2022* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASIAN | 18.3% | 6.7% | 273.1% | 6.1% |
| BLACK OR AFRICAN-AMERICAN | 8.1% | 11.1% | 73.0% | 13.6% |
| HISPANIC | 11.2% | 17.9% | 62.6% | 18.9% |
| NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER | 0.1% | 0.2% | 50.0% | 0.3% |
| WHITE | 34.3% | 51.0% | 67.3% | 59.3% |
| TWO OR MORE RACES | 6.6% | 4.0% | 165.0% | 2.9% |
| AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKA NATIVE | 0.2% | 0.6% | 33.3% | 1.3% |
| RACE ETHNICITY UNKNOWN | 7.7% | 4.4% | 175.0% | Not Applicable |
| NON-RESIDENT ALIEN (INTERNATIONAL) | 13.5% | 4.2% | 321.4% | Not Applicable |
*% by Ethnicity US Census Bureau (July 2022 Estimate)
In our opinion, Harvard’s arguments are more valid than the people suing Harvard - there is long precedent in US law that private institutions, especially colleges and universities, have a right to decide who is a member/population. Harvard (any school) also needs more than just academic superstars and leaders – schools have athletic teams, choirs, dance troupes, and other components that are not aligned solely with superior academic performance.
This does beg the question though of how does Harvard compare to similar highly ranked Private institutions and what about the larger highly ranked Public Colleges and Universities?
Looking at some of the highly ranked Private Institutions, it seems a stretch to say that Asian students are under-represented at these schools.
| School | % ASIAN |
|---|---|
| Stanford University | 25.1% |
| University of Pennsylvania (Penn) | 24.7% |
| Princeton University | 22.6% |
| Cornell University | 21.6% |
| Yale University | 21.4% |
| Duke University | 21.3% |
| Northwestern University | 20.0% |
| University of Chicago | 19.7% |
| Harvard University | 18.3% |
| Brown University | 17.7% |
| Columbia University | 17.2% |
| Vanderbilt University | 16.6% |
| Dartmouth College | 14.1% |
For Public Colleges and Universities, one would speculate that part of their mission is to somewhat reflect the population of their respective states. Each state's taxpayers support their State Schools, so access should be somewhat equitable, right?
Take a look at these numbers!
| School | ASIAN | BLACK OR AFRICAN-AMERICAN | HISPANIC | WHITE | INTERNATIONAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CALIFORNIA (State Census #'s) | 15.9% | 6.5% | 40.2% | 35.2% | NA |
| University of California-Berkeley | 34.9% | 2.1% | 19.8% | 20.7% | 13.1% |
| University of California-Los Angeles | 29.1% | 3.2% | 21.7% | 26.2% | 10.0% |
| The University of Texas at Austin | 23.8% | 4.5% | 27.1% | 35.1% | 4.5% |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 17.0% | 3.9% | 7.3% | 53.0% | 8.5% |
| University of Virginia | 16.6% | 6.7% | 6.8% | 54.8% | 4.5% |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 12.6% | 8.5% | 9.7% | 55.6% | 5.3% |
| Indiana University-Bloomington | 8.2% | 4.2% | 7.9% | 68.7% | 5.2% |
The only school close to aligning with national demographics for the Asian Student population is Indiana University. The two California schools are completely out of alignment with the state's demographics and also have a disproportionate % of International Students (compared to the national 4.2%) that limit opportunities for the Black, Hispanic and White children of taxpayers to attend these highly ranked taxpayer subsidized schools.
So what happens next? The US Supreme Court will decide the fate of Harvard and a related UNC Chapel Hill case in the next few months. That decision may completely alter college admissions and change who goes to what college!
