Did US Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling really help? Asian-Americans aren’t sure
- Cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina were brought ostensibly on behalf of Asian applicants, but the biggest projected winners could be whites
- Asians, already disproportionately represented in top colleges, could also see backlash if they become the face of efforts that reduce university slots for other minorities
Julia Kim, a 17-year-old Korean-American high school junior busy researching colleges, feels unsettled by last month’s US Supreme Court decision on affirmative action.
The concern: that it will add more confusion to the already opaque admissions process, pit minorities against each other and threaten to undercut the diversity she seeks after growing up in a predominately white suburb.
“I’m going into the process much more frustrated than before, having the weight of knowing that your experience as an Asian person is not going to be accounted for as much as it should,” said Kim, from Columbia, Missouri.
“Banning affirmative action is not good and works to serve the interests of white people, white supremacy in particular.
“I know there are a lot of narratives in the Asian-American community that affirmative action hurts us, but I personally disagree.”
On June 29, the court effectively ended race-conscious admissions practices in US higher education, upending four decades of precedent.
