Students Split On Gov't Ruling

Leaders of student minority organizations said yesterday they were pleased the U.S. Department of Education had concluded Harvard did not discriminate against Asian Americans in its admissions practices.

But several student leaders said they were still concerned that Harvard admitted Asian Americans at an unusually low rate because legacy and athletic recruting admissions policies tended to help other ethnic and racial groups disproportionately.

Released yesterday, the federal report cleared Harvard of any wrongdoing, noting that the admissions practices which adversely affected Asian Americans were "legitimate and not a pretext for discrimination."

"I am glad that [the Education Department review was closed] for Harvard's sake for two reasons: first, generally they found that Harvard was not guilty of discrimination or guilty of discrimination to a greater extent than any other college, and second, because of the question of whether Harvard would lose any federal grants," said Hoang Quan Vu '92, president of the Vietnamese Student Association.

In general, students agreed with Quan Vu's support for the decision. And those students who have met with the admissions staff to discuss discrimination issues went even further, saying they backed the admissions office's policy of giving preferential "tips" in the selection process to legacies and athletic recruits.

"We have met with the admissions office and they have explained why they need a tip for legacies and athletes, and why this is not descriminating against Asian Americans," said Joshua Li '92, co-president of the Asian American Association. "We understand that in the future Asian Americans will receive these tips as well."

According to David Shim '91, also co-president of the Asian American Association, the admissions office today maintains direct ties to several minority organizations: the Asian American Association, the Black Students Association, Native Americans at Harvard, La Organizacion Estudiantil Boricua de Harvard-Radcliffe and Raza. Representatives of those organizations often participate in applicant recruiting trips, and yesterday students who had participated in such trips said the admissions process is very competitive for legacies and athletes.

"It is really hard to get in as a legacy, athlete, or for that matter, minority, without the recommendations, grades, and scores," said Mecca Nelson '92, president of the Black Students Association.

Nonetheless, leaders of groups that do not have an admissions staff liason said they were concerned that Asian-American applicants were not given the tips that both legacies and recruited athletes, as well as more underrepresented minority groups, receive.

"It is not fair that Asian Americans are not getting tips whereas athletes and legacies are," said Quan Vu.

"On the other hand," he continued, "I believe that tips shouldn't be given in the first place."

And Charles Kwak '92, president of the Korean Student Association, said that if the tips system adversely affected Asian Americans, it was tantamount to "trying to institutionalize discrimination through some loopholes of Title VI" of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"I expected that changes would be made in admissions that is more equitable in admissions, but it doesn't sound like they've made any progress," Kwak said.

Shim said that he too was upset that Asian Americans did not get tips.

"I am surprised that [the Asian American minority tip] doesn't have an impact at all and would like to know why," Shim said. "I think that being Asian American ought to have a positive impact on the admissions process and am surprised that it does not, especially if being of any other minority group, does have a positive impact, putting aside any socioeconomic differences."