Malaise invades the halls of Harvard on the eve of a lawsuit over race-based admissions

As Harvard University prepares Monday to defend its selective and highly secretive admission process in a Boston courtroom, outside groups gather their forces, protesters descend on the city, and a planned rally outside the university gates.

The high stakes case accusing Harvard of being discriminatory against Asian-American candidates has reopened a lively national debate on race, equity and merit. And on campus, this has forced students to face personal and extremely worrying questions about racial diversity, privileges and their place in the Ivy League institution.

"It forces me to talk about the breed in a way that I have not done yet," said Priyanka Kaura, 27, an American-Indian graduate student from Pennsylvania at Harvard's Kennedy School. Kaura said that she supported affirmative action and that she was keen to acknowledge that there might be concerns about the bias against Asian candidates, in particular when she was discussing the matter with other Americans of Asian descent. "I have not lost close relationships yet."

"Everyone is in the spirit," added Victor Agbafe, 22, whose parents emigrated from Nigeria and who grew up in Dallas and Wilmington, NC "I think the case can be huge. "

In lively – sometimes heavy – conversations with friends in dining rooms and dormitories, Facebook groups and private texts, class discussions and group meetings, Harvard students grapple with the issues raised by the pursuit.

Unlike previous litigation, which was largely based on the fact that race-based admission practices were beneficial to Black and Hispanic students while hurting white students, this case is focused on plaintiffs seeking to find a better deal. Asian-American origin.

The lawsuit was filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a group representing Americans of Asian descent who allege that Harvard's admission policy discriminates against them. As evidence, the organization highlights six years of admissions to Harvard, which experts say indicates that American-Asian qualities are rated less well for their personal qualities, such as courage and kindness, which jeopardize their chances. to be admitted. The group also claims that Harvard limits the number of US-Asian students it admits each year, a practice called racial balancing, which is illegal.

Harvard denies discrimination and insists that its admission practices are legal and ensure that all students learn on a diverse campus and are exposed to different ideas and classmates. variety.

At Harvard, 21% of students are Asian, nearly 12% are Hispanic, 8% are Black; the majority of the campus is white.

The university is eager to report that the Students for Fair Admissions program is headed by Edward Blum. He is a conservative white scholar who unsuccessfully challenged the admission process at the University of Texas and led an effort to demystify parts of the Voting Rights Act.

However, Harvard administrators fear that the trial will lead to flaws among students and alumni of the oldest and most prestigious higher education institution in the country. The trial will likely raise questions about people deemed worthy and special enough to occupy one of the few slots in an announced university to educate future presidents, titans of corporations, poets and laureates. Harvard, out of some 42,000 applicants, recruits only 1,600 freshmen every year. Entrance itself is a privilege and is considered a way to succeed in the future.

Students for Fair Admissions "is likely to make provocative statements that will draw the public's attention and lead some to question our academic practices," Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said in an email to the community. from Harvard last week. "I hope we all recognize, however, that we are members of a community – and that we will stay so long after this test has taken place in the rearview mirror. However, the type of community we will be will be determined by the way we treat each other over the next few weeks. "

Some American students of Asian origin say that they already feel in conflict about the lawsuit. They support diversity on campus, but some say the case has heightened the warning received from high school parents and counselors that they needed to get better grades than their peers, occupy senior positions and appear less stereotyped than their Asian demands for making money. a place in the most elite colleges.

Rainbow Yeung, a graduate in molecular and cellular biology at Harvard, said she feared that Asians have been neglected in US history and in the US media. And she does not want their concerns about potential prejudices in admissions to be silenced.

"I'm afraid that the results of the lawsuit could mean for positive action," Yeung said. "However, I just do not want Asian students to suffer negative consequences because of our race."

Ivy Yan, who graduated from Harvard in 2015 and is now a graduate student, found herself at odds with Harvard administrators. She fought Harvard's efforts to crush a union of graduate students and, as an undergraduate student, gathered alumni and other student groups after finding that the university's response to threats by e-mail received by many US-Asian students was inadequate.

But now, Yan is helping to organize a rally Sunday for positive action and is bringing together many Harvard supporters.

"I am strongly anti-Blum, but not pro-Harvard," she said.

Nevertheless, she understands why many Chinese-Americans, especially those who have immigrated more recently, support this lawsuit. Even his younger sister questioned the need for positive action until recently, Yan said.

"The members of the coalition are mine," she said. "It's the American dream of many immigrants and the admissions process – it takes into account something you do not really understand, and it can be alienating."

The complaint against Harvard's affirmative action policy is generally considered a conservative cause and has even received support from the Department of Justice under the Trump administration. Yet some conservative students recognize that admission to an elite school is based on a complicated formula, race being just one factor among others. Featured athletes, children of financial donors, students whose parents have attended Harvard and candidates from underrepresented states receive special attention.

"Those who came here and how they arrived here – everyone has what brought them here," said Conor Healy, a top Canadian who last year invited the controversial sociologist Charles Murray to take the talk at Harvard despite the protests of students belonging to minorities. "It's personal … I knew that when I applied, no one was entitled to a spot … and they paid close attention to the personal details of the individuals." 's just not easy.

Healy said private institutions should be able to dictate their standards of admission.

Some students, however, feel that Harvard is not doing enough to encourage diversity and that if he loses the lawsuit, there will be even fewer Black and Hispanic students on campus.

While Paola Martinez was waiting last week for a film screening at the recently renovated Harvard Smith Campus Center, where modern red and orange sofas are surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, she mocked at the involvement in the complaint that Harvard has too few Asians. American students.

Martinez, 37, grew up in the Dominican Republic. He takes classes and works at Harvard Extension School, a program for adult learners. She said black and Latino students and teachers are rarer than whites and Americans of Asian descent.

This lawsuit is an effort to "keep students of color out of environments where they can succeed," Martinez said. "Give us at least a chance to prove that we are smart enough and that we can do something."

Andrea Loera, 23, a Latina who grew up in Texas and is a master's student at Havard Law School, said she feared that many of the arguments about the trial of the trial would be led by students of color rather than by the community in general.

More than 50 Harvard students participated in a class she attended a rainy night last week. most were Asian and other minorities, with only a handful of white students.

Loera said she understood that some colored students were afraid of getting too noticed, especially around a case that casts doubt on their membership in Harvard.

"You already feel like a stranger here," Loera said. "It becomes a personal subject so quickly. And it's so hard to talk about it as a minority, especially in such a white school. "

Deirdre Fernandes can be contacted at [email protected].