Today’s not a great day to be Harvard.
The P.R. shop at Harvard right now. https://t.co/4s8sHcIQAu pic.twitter.com/9bPdnqLPX5
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) June 15, 2018
That’s being optimistic.
Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than any other race on personal traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” lawsuit says https://t.co/GMfgdqVXOl
— Josh Mitchell (@JMitchellWSJ) June 15, 2018
Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than any other race on personal traits like 'positive personality,' likability, courage, kindness and being 'widely respected,' analysis of admissions records shows. https://t.co/EkB7WlRSH4
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) June 15, 2018
The motion for summary judgment filed in Boston today alleging that Harvard discriminates against Chinese-American applicants is very strong. Claims that through racial preferences, Harvard treats Asians the way it used to treat Jews.
— Mike Gonzalez (@Gundisalvus) June 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/benwallacewells/status/1007641853376782336
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007644995678097409
The premise that Harvard has to pick between not discriminating against Asian and Asian-American applicants, and having full representation of black and Hispanic applicants, seems like a pretty obvious false binaryhttps://t.co/pJ6Cf7L5d3
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) June 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007645632843173888
https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/1007647371147251712
This is appalling. The conclusion was reached after reviewing data for 160,000 Harvard applicants. "Often," the admissions office gave Asian-Americans an low personal rating "without even meeting them." https://t.co/m5eku6YzcU pic.twitter.com/srlZIVOhmK
— Jillian Kay Melchior (@JillianKayM) June 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007648580742545408
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007650523217039361
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007651065813192704
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007655792907038723
America to Harvard: "Stop being anti-Semitic."
Harvard: "Absolutely no problem. Racism it is."
America: "Thank you. See that wasn't so ha- wait what"
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) June 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007642961562230784
Just how bad is it? Well, it’s so bad, that even über-liberal Congressman Ted Lieu is calling Harvard out on a policy beloved by progressives:
Dear @Harvard: Your admissions policies against Asian-Americans are racist. Take your "personality trait" crap and shove it. How's that for "courage."
Also, you need to apologize. https://t.co/WQXWAlYQ6E
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 15, 2018
How do we know @Harvard is lying about its racist admissions policies against Asian-Americans? Because it won't release its own internal reviews from 2013 showing discrimination.
Release the information Harvard. What are you hiding?
Oh, and do you like my personality traits? https://t.co/LSgHBMl5Bh
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 15, 2018
Ouch.
The Supreme Court has held race can be used as a factor in admissions. But what @Harvard appears to have done is attribute personality traits based on race. That is what is outrageous, because it feeds into historical damaging stereotypes about Asian-Americans. https://t.co/sHPut2Kd9T
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 15, 2018
Yeah, he’s pissed. And you know what? He should be. Harvard’s policy is flat-out shameful. And they deserve to shamed for it.
Not always my favorite congressman, but A+ tweet, Ted. https://t.co/ZQbWNnbiiv
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) June 15, 2018
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
— PragMAGAtic (@TheRationalMAGA) June 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/politicalelle/status/1007663862621995008
https://twitter.com/alwaysonoffense/status/1007654976754249730
Well, maybe not “implode” … but still, it’s significant that Lieu is slamming a progressive system.
Of course, it’s important to note that policies like this have always been racist at their core. Harvard’s discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans is a feature, not a bug. It’s part of the tradition of affirmative action.
"Asian-American applicants have higher academic and extracurricular scores than any other racial group, as well as the highest overall rating from alumni interviewers, according to the plaintiffs…"
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
"…However, Harvard’s admissions officers assign Asian-Americans the lowest score of any racial group on the personal rating, which includes a subjective assessment of character traits such as whether the student has a “positive personality,” the plaintiffs said."
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
Imagine if a university gave variable 'personality' points…but made sure that African Americans purposefully got fewer points than other groups.
What would we call it?
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
And this from people like @tedlieu is disingenuous.
Affirmative action was ALWAYS reverse racism. Just that when it was started…the targets were whites only.
Now Asians are caught in that net; unintended consequences. https://t.co/he3uzYI7m3
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
In short, the policy was ALWAYS racist. The Harvard policy is nothing new; in fact, this is PRECISELY how affirmative action policy was always intended to run!
You can't have it both ways. You simply can't.
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
Well said.
Does @tedlieu oppose affirmative action and believe people should be judged on merit rather than traits over which they have no control? https://t.co/l7MOKkiK6i
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) June 15, 2018
If intellectual consistency matters, then he absolutely should.
Some parting food for thought:
Honestly curious to see how many Indian Americans who jumped on the 'Apu is racist' bandwagon are willing to call out this real racism.
My guess: Not many.
https://t.co/bN5Rsuwgab— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
This crap drives me insane
— Amelia (@AmeliaHammy) June 15, 2018
I'm actually pretty reasonable about this. But let us call it what it is: reverse racism.
Maybe we need that to fix past injustice. I don't know. But don't call it by the wrong name just because it is inconvenient to be honest about what it is. https://t.co/2H4l0MAgjB
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 15, 2018
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text and a tweet.
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