Led by AAPI scholars, thousands of academics tell Supreme Court they support affirmative action
Academics across the U.S. filed briefs this week to the Supreme Court in support of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina.
Academics across the U.S. filed briefs this week to the Supreme Court in support of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. The schools are at the center of two high-profile cases that pose a threat to affirmative action admission policies.
More than 1,240 historians and social scientists who study race and education, led by Asian American scholars, filed two briefs supporting the universities and their race-conscious admission practices, in response to a pair of lawsuits by the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA).
Led by Edward Blum, a white conservative lawyer, SFFA has accused the two schools of discriminating against Asian Americans by putting them at a disadvantage and valuing Black and Latino students more highly instead.
The academics argue that the dissolution of race-conscious practices in admissions would harm Asian Americans and others and that affirmative action policies lead to a diversity in the student body that is beneficial to students of all backgrounds.
In the Harvard brief, the academics argued that SFFA’s case is grounded in racist stereotypes, citing the petitioner’s own assertion that Asian Americans are academically “substantially stronger” than other demographic groups and therefore “should be admitted at a higher rate.”
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