Asian Groups File Complaint Over Harvard Admission Practices
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — An alliance of Asian American groups on Friday filed a federal complaint against Harvard University, saying that school and other Ivy League institutions are using racial quotas to admit students other than high-scoring Asians.

More than 60 Chinese, Indian, Korean and Pakistani groups came together for the complaint, which was filed with the civil rights offices at the Justice and Education departments. They are calling for an investigation and say these schools should stop using racial quotas or racial balancing in admission.

"We are seeking equal treatment regardless of race," said Chunyan Li, a professor and civil rights activist, who said they'd rather universities use income rather than race in affirmative action policies.

Harvard says its approach to admissions has been found to be "fully compliant with federal law." Officials also say the number of Asian students admitted increased from 17.6 percent to 21 percent over the last decade.

"We will vigorously defend the right of Harvard, and other universities, to continue to seek the educational benefits that come from a class that is diverse on multiple dimensions," said Robert Iuliano, Harvard's general counsel.

Iuliano pointed to the Supreme Court's landmark 1978 decision in Regents of University of California v. Bakke, which upheld affirmative action and specifically cited Harvard's admissions plan as a "legally sound approach" to admissions.

Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were sued last year by "Students for Fair Admission," a nonprofit group based in Austin, Texas, made up of recently rejected applicants who argue that affirmative action policies should be banned at colleges across the nation.

The federal suits allege Harvard and UNC rely on race-based affirmative action policies that impact admissions of high-achieving white and Asian American students. The Harvard lawsuit also contends that the Ivy League university specifically limits the number of Asian Americans it admits each year.

Yukong Zhao, who organized the groups for Friday's complaint, challenged Harvard to open its admission books to prove that Asians were not purposefully being put at a disadvantage. "We want to help this country move forward," Zhao said.

Other Asian American groups and officials also released statements supporting affirmative action, including two members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. "Neither of us believes that any racial or ethnic group should be subjected to quotas," Commissioners Michael Yaki and Karen Narasaki said. "Nor do we believe that test scores alone entitle anyone to admission at Harvard. Students are more than their test scores and grades."

亞裔生控哈佛種族歧視

一個亞裔美國人團體聯盟15日向聯邦當局投訴哈佛大學，指控哈佛和其他常春藤盟校利用種族配額制度，招收成績不如亞裔的其他族裔學生人學。

不滿招生不平等

由60多個華人、韓國、印度和巴基斯坦裔團體組成的聯盟，向美司法部和教育部的公民權利機構投訴，呼籲當局應該展開調查，而這些學校招生時也必須停止利用種族配額或種族平衡措施作為錄取標準。

積極維護公民權益的李春元（譯音）教授說：「我們爭取的是不分種族的平等待遇。」他說，他們寧可大學為防止種族和性別歧視而實施的平權（affirmative action）招生政策，是採用所得而非種族作為衡量標準。

哈佛大學表示，該校的錄取方式「完全符合聯邦法律」；過去10年來，哈佛錄取的亞裔學生比率已從17.6%升高到21%。

哈佛大學的首席法律顧問尤里亞諾說：「我們強力維護哈佛和其他大學的權利，確保教育的利益來自元多元、多面向的階層。」

由申請入學遭拒的學生組成的「公平入學」團體，去年曾控告哈佛和北卡羅萊納大學，並要求禁止全美各大學實施「平權」錄取政策。

這些團體向聯邦投訴，指控哈佛和北卡等大學的平權招生政策以種族為依據，影響成績優秀的白人和亞裔美國學生的錄取機會；亞裔聯盟的投訴並且指出，常春藤盟校明確限制每年招收亞裔美國學生的人數。

策劃亞裔聯盟投訴的趙玉恭（譯音）呼籲哈佛應公開其入學名冊，以證明亞裔學生未刻意遭到排擠。

不過，其他亞裔美國人團體也發布聲明支持平權招生政策，他們表示：「我們主張不應對任何種族或社群團體設定配額限制，但我們也不以為單憑測試成績就能讓任何人進入哈佛，測驗分數與等級不能和學生劃上等號。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/15/us/ap-us-asians-harvard.html

2015-05-16．聯合晚報．A5．國際．編譯陳澄和