Apple, GE, Other Major Companies Ask Supreme Court to Uphold Affirmative Action | Hacker News Reader

Apple, GE, Other Major Companies Ask Supreme Court to Uphold Affirmative Action

abcnews.go.com

12 pointsandrewl13 comments

Association of American Medical Colleges, 2017

I believe these companies have a racism problem to be honest.

> The group, Students for Fair Admissions, alleges that Asian-American applicants have been illegally targeted by Harvard and rejected at a disproportionately higher rate in violation of Supreme Court precedent and the students' constitutional rights.

> Two lower federal courts have rejected those claims.

To clarify what I am confident is deliberate vagueness, the courts agreed with the claim that they are "rejected at a disproportionately higher rate", which was a simple matter of fact to prove, showing they needed higher SAT scores to gain admittance.

The courts have only rejected the claim that this discrimination was illegal, not that it took place.

Under questioning from SFFA lawyer John Hughes, [Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons] detailed some of the recruitment efforts that begin the selection process. Harvard mails recruitment letters to black and Hispanic high schoolers with middle-range SAT scores, Fitzsimmons acknowledged, yet only sends such letters to Asian Americans if they have scored more than 200 points higher. - https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/15/politics/harvard-affirmat...

I have a question. What happens if the student group wins? What is the racial composition of Harvard supposed to be? And how many black people would then be admitted?

If the student group wins, Harvard will have to jump through the same hoops to prove they are not discriminating against whites and Asians, as every private company currently has to jump through to prove they are not discriminating against Blacks and Hispanics.

So if Asians just don't happen to have the qualities they're looking for in students; say leadership ability for instance, then it will be fine that they are not admitted in numbers that their standardized testing scores would suggest they should be?

There have been many discrimination lawsuits in the past. You're free to look up what the precedent is, and what standard of proof is required to defend against a claim of discrimination. The only thing that would change is that now all groups can claim discrimination, instead of just some.

Doesn't Harvard discriminate against basically everyone? It's acceptance rate is known to be very low. But still, I wonder, what is the proper racial makeup for Harvard's student population?

According to the law, the same as that of the overall population or population of applicants. Disparate impact is illegal.

It will mean that groups who want to see the racial pie chart change will have to dig and do the hard work, getting actually involved in disadvantaged communities instead of just throwing money at government programs that don't seem to be working.

What government program is changing the admissions pie chart of Harvard, a private university?

That would be positive. I imagine that some of these companies really try to get government contracts. I am wary of their motives here.

The law means that things with a disparate impact are presumably racist and illegal.

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