By S B Woo
80-20 Initiative
The Supreme court issued its decision on college admissions yesterday.
In a 7 to 1 decision, it referred the case back to the Court of Appeals with
the following key instructions.
(1) The Supreme Court made it clear that race-conscious admissions
should NOT be used unless there is “no workable race-neutral
alternatives (that) would produce the educational benefits of diversity.
(emphasis added)” 80-20 advocates a race-neutral college admissions policy.
We are also for diversity. However, diversity should be achieved WITHOUT
discriminating against Asian American college applicants, e.g. by replacing
“race” with “class”. We are delighted that the Supreme Court seems to
agree with both key points that 80-20 has advocated.
Nevertheless, given that the case is referred back to the Court of
Appeals, no final conclusion should be drawn except one — we are
better off today than a year ago.
(2) The SC also asked the lower court to apply “strict scrutiny” in
determining whether “race-conscious” in college admission is called for.
Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority stated, “Strict scrutiny
does NOT permit a court to ACCEPT a school’s assertion that its admissions
process uses race in a permissible way WITHOUT CLOSELY EXAMINING how
the process works in practice.(emphasis added)”
80-20 hopes that the so called Asian Am. civil rights organizations such
as AALDEF of New York,
OCA of Washington D.C.,
AAJC of Washington D.C. and
APALC of Los Angeles
will take Justice Kennedy’s statement above to heart. They should apply
“strict scrutiny” before accepting NAACP’s and universities’ assertion
that the current “admissions process uses race in a permissible way.”
Now is their time to join 98% of the Asian Americans who prefer “race-
neutral” college admissions.
80-20 is proud to have helped Asian American students a step closer to
enjoying equal opportunity to enter elite colleges. We shall continue to
battle until Asian American adults and children enjoy equal opportunities
fully.
(About the Author: S B Woo is a volunteer President of 80-20 National Asian Am Educational Foundation. He served at Lt. Governor for the state of Delaware from 1985- 1989)