Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2019
ISSN
0008-1221
Publisher
University of California Berkeley School of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
In the ongoing litigation of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, Harvard faces allegations that its once-heralded admissions process discriminates against Asian Americans. Public discourse has revealed a dominant narrative: affirmative action is viewed as the presumptive cause of Harvard’s alleged “Asian penalty.” Yet this narrative misrepresents the plaintiff’s own theory of discrimination. Rather than implicating affirmative action, the underlying allegations portray the phenomenon of “negative action” — that is, an admissions regime in which White applicants take the seats of their more qualified Asian-American counterparts. Nonetheless, we are witnessing a broad failure to see this case for what it is. This misperception invites an unnecessary and misplaced referendum on race-conscious admissions at Harvard and beyond.
Recommended Citation
Jonathan Feingold,
SFFA v. Harvard: How Affirmative Action Myths Mask White Bonus
,
in
107
California Law Review
707
(2019).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/828
