Increased Number of Asian Americans at MIT Suggests Discrimination Against Them
There are signs that a historically marginalized group in America will face less discrimination.
But it’s not a cause for celebration because the group in question is Asian-Americans and the discrimination has been in college admissions.
MIT has published its first admissions data after the end of affirmative action, showing an increase in Asian-American students from 40% to 47%.
Black students decreased from 15% to 5% and Hispanic students from 16% to 11%, with white students remaining stable.
These numbers can be interpreted in two ways.
Either MIT’s admissions office is biased against black and Hispanic students while favoring Asian-Americans, or the previously existing affirmative-action policies were working against deserving Asian-American applicants. The latter seems to be the case.
MIT’s president, Sally Kornbluth, hinted that the change in student composition was a result of the Supreme Court’s decision against affirmative action.
Similar forecasts for Harvard’s admissions without affirmative action suggest a rise in Asian-American and white students and a decline in black and Hispanic students.
This pattern was seen in California when Proposition 209 ended affirmative action, increasing Asian-American admissions at UC Berkeley.
Diversity supporters view this as a setback, but these broad racial categories overlook the individuality within each group.
What unites the Asian-American students is their merit and qualification for MIT, not a shared background or attitude.
The focus should be on recognizing their achievements and treating them as individuals in line with American ideals.
Affirmative action can sometimes prioritize race over individual circumstances, giving advantages to well-off African-American students over deserving Asian-American applicants with refugee parents.
The revised MIT admissions process should confirm the merit-based entry of black and Hispanic students as well.
Less discrimination should be seen as a positive development overall, focusing on fairness rather than who benefits or loses under the system.
Twitter: @RichLowry
