Reverse Discrimination In College

Affirmative action is more than just an ambiguous phrase scattered amongst college admissions pages. For many students, it is a golden ticket for a valuable education that would otherwise be unable to achieve. The term affirmative action is largely incorrectly interpreted by many high school students. The National Conference of State Legislatures broadly defines it as an effort institutions take to actively improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society. Gaining traction during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, affirmative action intended to provide an equal playing field for minority groups and women in education. When it became known that “only five percent of undergraduate students, one percent of law students,

College admissions ignite deep anxieties particularly for Asian families, who spend more than any other demographic on education. Asian Americans, by percentage, “make up more of the student body at elite universities than they do of the population as a whole” (Shyong). Thus, many have criticized affirmative action policies for discriminating against Asian American applicants to alter these ratios in favor of underrepresented minorities. Many college experts have tried to quantify this “reverse discrimination” that supposedly takes place against Asians. In a presentation to rising high school seniors, admissions counselor Ann Lee, shows three columns of numbers that “try to measure how race and ethnicity affect acceptances by using the term ‘bonus’ to describe how many extra SAT points an applicant 's race is worth.” It is anticipated to see minorities receive the greatest benefit. African Americans receive a bonus of two hundred and thirty points, while Hispanics receive a slightly lower addition of one hundred and eighty five points. However, the statistic for Asian Americans is the most startling, as Lee reports that these students are actually penalized 50 SAT points (Shyong). Yet, this study should be taken with a grain of salt as there is no concrete way of verifying these farfetched conclusions. Ann Lee also has no substantial authority or credibility to present such unconventional data. Furthermore, these numbers may also be slightly bias since the author is Asian herself. In addition, Asian Americans have gone as far as to go to court with accusations of reverse discrimination. A new lawsuit filed against Harvard University “cites an Asian-American student who was denied acceptance despite being valedictorian of a competitive high school, achieving a perfect ACT score and a perfect