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The numbers are striking: for at least 18 years, until 2013, the admission rate of American students of Asian-American origin at Harvard University was lower than that of white applicants and most other minorities.
But is this evidence of anti-Asian bias in one of the country's largest universities?
It is at the heart of a trial on the Harvard admission system that will continue Monday in federal court in Boston.
A series of senior Harvard admissions officers and researchers testified last week that the university did not discriminate against the original American candidates. Asian, and never did. This week, several other people, including former President Drew Faust, should be on the spot to defend Harvard's use of the breed.
Students for Fair Admissions, which sued Harvard, says the university limits the number of Asian Americans it admits each year. The university's grading system and the inclusion of a personal score, which measures everything from the courage and excitement of candidates to their blandness and immaturity, disadvantage candidates of Asian-American origin, says the group.
Students for Fair Admissions cited Harvard's own statistics as proof that American-Asian candidates, despite their grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities, are stuck with the Ivy League selection process.
According to Harvard data presented during the trial, in 2013, the university admission rate of American students of Asian origin was 5.6%, lower than that of whites (7%), Blacks (6.8%) and Hispanics (6.1%). Only international students were admitted at a lower rate (3.3%). The overall admission rate for this year was 5.8%.
Americans of Asian descent have historically been admitted at lower rates than most other major racial groups since 1996, according to court documents.
Harvard argues that while Asians represent about 6% of US residents in the United States, they represent a much larger share of the university's pool of applicants, about 20%, and a similar proportion of students admitted.
The university also takes into account a host of factors when admitting students going beyond academics, extracurricular activities, athletics, and running, said officials said. Harvard officials.
When the 200 or more variables that are part of the admission decision are taken into account – whether the candidate's mother or father died, the intended career, how long they worked, the average SAT scores in mathematics at their high school, and if parents attended Harvard – the difference in admission rates between Americans of Asian descent and whites disappears, according to the analysis of the university .
"These are never test scores and grades," said William Fitzsimmons, the Dean of Admissions of the University, who spent four days at the helm last week to immerse himself in the workings of the selection process.
While Harvard officials were notoriously kept about their admissions process, at one point, arguing that their internal documents were the equivalent of trade secrets, the lawsuit forced thousands of pages to enter the public domain. Some are enlightening, others embarrassing; Many people explain how Harvard reduces an annual pool of candidates from over 42,000 students to just over 2,000 admitted students.
In an attempt to convince Federal Court Judge Allison Burroughs of the Federal District Court that the admission process is complete and free from racial bias, Harvard also passed the unprecedented stage of the trial of sharing graphs and data on admissions, by reading aloud parts of requests about characteristics sought by public servants.
"We want you to know because once you understand how the process works, what the information is, what the assessments are, you can understand how the decisions are made," said William Lee, a Boston lawyer representing Harvard.
Students from certain geographic areas earn a "tip", or a boost, in the admission decision, including candidates from urban areas and particularly those from Boston and Cambridge.
The future major of a student can make a difference in admissions. Harvard is looking for more social scientists, such as those who have studied Greek and Latin, because "we think they will be great educators for our engineers," Fitzsimmons told the closed off.
A low-income migrant worker's child can benefit from an elevator in the admission process. But it's even better to be a tennis player or a top-level skier. The child of a Harvard alumni, particularly one who is actively involved in organizing events and promoting the institution, will be examined more closely by the main staff of the admissions office. And giving a million dollars or more to Harvard will likely generate interest from the university for the donor's parent.
In an e-mail shared in court, a Harvard dean praised Fitzsimmons for admitting several high-profile candidates into a new class, including one linked to a donor who had engaged in a new building for l & # 39; university.
Harvard officials defended their claims against the rich and connected, arguing that this made the university more accessible to students with limited resources who needed financial assistance to settle in Harvard.
Students for Fair Admissions stated that Harvard was aware as early as 2013, because of its internal research, that some of these preferences – or as some university officials described them in a memo, a "thumbs up" – were the first ones to be recognized. "scale" – were detrimental to US-Asian relations. applicants, who were admitted at a lower rate. A draft report written by Harvard researchers revealed that if students were accepted as academics, Americans of Asian descent would be admitted at a rate more than twice the current rate.
Harvard argues that the search was incomplete and that a more complete analysis of the data made for the test shows no bias.
It remains to be seen whether Harvard admissions officers unconsciously grant their preferences to some students while blocking others.
"Are there times when you do not realize that you are leaning towards something or, for example, that you are not doing it, then you are accessing the data and that shows that there is some advice that you did not really intend to do or know? Burroughs asked a Harvard admissions officer at the helm.
Harvard Economists and Students for Fair Admissions will be speaking later this week and will start dissecting the data in the hope of answering this question.
Deirdre Fernandes can be reached at deirdre.fernandes
@ globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @fernandesglobe.
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