Admissions officials at Harvard defended their process in the fourth day of a trial in which the university has been accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.
Harvard students have yet to testify during the trial challenging the university’s admissions policies, but their personal stories and applications were invoked by both sides in federal court here on Thursday. William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s veteran dean of admissions, spent his fourth day on the stand trying to refute claims that his office discriminated against Asian-American applicants.
The case against Harvard was filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a membership organization that was founded by Edward J. Blum, a conservative activist. The group says it represents students who, despite their exceptional academic records, were denied admission to Harvard because of their race.
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Kai Nedden, laif, Redux
Admissions officials at Harvard defended their process in the fourth day of a trial in which the university has been accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.
Harvard students have yet to testify during the trial challenging the university’s admissions policies, but their personal stories and applications were invoked by both sides in federal court here on Thursday. William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s veteran dean of admissions, spent his fourth day on the stand trying to refute claims that his office discriminated against Asian-American applicants.
The case against Harvard was filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a membership organization that was founded by Edward J. Blum, a conservative activist. The group says it represents students who, despite their exceptional academic records, were denied admission to Harvard because of their race.
On the morning of the trial’s fourth day, Fitzsimmons finished his testimony by explaining in detail how admissions officers consider applications. In the afternoon, lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions tried to sow doubt in the testimony of two other admissions officials by showing that their assertions on Thursday contradicted what they said in depositions last year.
Harvard has vehemently denied the claim that it discriminates against Asian-Americans, saying that it considers the “whole person” in all its admissions decisions. To try to prove it, the university’s lawyer, William F. Lee, on Thursday walked Fitzsimmons through the applications of two students.
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One of them has emerged as a sort-of poster child for Harvard during the trial: Thang Diep. He is a senior who moved to the United States from Vietnam when he was 8 years old. Diep was mentioned in Lee’s opening statement and is expected to testify toward the end of the trial, along with several other students and alumni who asked to be able to share their experiences as students of color at Harvard.
Diep earned a 2090 on the SAT, a score that Fitzsimmons said would put him in the middle of the pack of typical applicants. Diep’s personal essay and letters of recommendation described him as an applicant who had struggled to learn English and been mocked for his accent, but had worked extra hard to improve it. He graduated at the top of his high-school class with a 4.3 GPA.
“How could your heart not go out to this person?” Fitzsimmons said.
‘Quiet and Strong’
Fitzsimmons was also asked about another applicant, whose name was redacted. She was in a ballet company, and though her high school did not offer Advanced Placement chemistry and biology courses, she studied for the AP exams herself and received the highest scores. She spoke Spanish, wrote eloquently about her father’s disability, and volunteered in a research lab. A recommendation described her as “thoughtful and focused. Never anxious, but always working toward her goals.”
Fitzsimmons said he was impressed.
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The judge, Allison D. Burroughs of the Federal District Court, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, asked if the applications of the plaintiffs who were not admitted to Harvard would be shown at the trial. Lee responded that they would not be.
John M. Hughes, a lawyer for Students for Fair Admissions, also asked Fitzsimmons about students’ applications. He returned to a 1990 report by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights that had found cases in which Harvard admissions officials used stereotypical language to describe Asian-American applicants — in one example, they were “quiet, shy, science/math-oriented, and hard workers.” (The federal agency concluded that Harvard had not discriminated against Asian-American applicants.)
Hughes then showed Fitzsimmons the applications of two Asian-American students who had been wait-listed. On one application Fitzsimmons had written, “very quiet.” On the other, “quiet and strong.”
Later, during questioning by Lee, Fitzsimmons said he’d described applicants of all races as “quiet” at one point or another. He has also described Asian-American applicants as outgoing, he said. Lee noted that stereotyping means using phrases to characterize an entire ethnicity.
“Was that what you were doing?” he asked Fitzsimmons. The dean responded: “No.”
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24 Hours With Lawyers
In the afternoon, the mood in the courtroom became much more combative as Adam K. Mortara, another lawyer for Students for Fair Admissions, questioned Christopher Looby, a senior admissions officer who has worked at Harvard for 10 years.
Looby said that when he started, he had been instructed by other admissions officers on how to use race in the process. But Mortara pointed to parts of his deposition from June 2017, when Looby was asked about this and responded: “Not that I recall.”
Detailed background on the lawsuit over the university’s race-conscious admissions policy, the case’s implications for selective colleges, and coverage of the trial as it unfolded, in a federal court in Boston.
Mortara also questioned Looby about whether he considers race in admissions decisions, an exchange that seemed to confuse Looby. He repeated many times that he did consider race as one factor among many. But when he was asked if race is a part of who a person is, he responded, “I don’t think so.”
Looby spent 24 hours over eight or 10 days preparing for his testimony with Harvard’s lawyers, he said.
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Erica Bever, another admissions officer, took the stand at the end of the day. Bever previously worked in the university’s Office of Institutional Research and had been involved in the office’s analysis, in 2013, of what “tips” help students gain admission.
Bever was shown an email that she sent Fitzsimmons in 2013 and that said: “While we find that low-income students clearly receive a tip in the admissions process, our model also shows that the tip for (legacy, athletes, etc.) is larger. On the flip side, we see a negative effect of being (Asian) these realities have also received intense scrutiny from critics.”
Bever will continue testifying on Friday.
Nell Gluckman writes about faculty issues and other topics in higher education. You can follow her on Twitter @nellgluckman, or email her at [email protected].
Nell Gluckman is a senior reporter who writes about research, ethics, funding issues, affirmative action, and other higher-education topics. You can follow her on Twitter @nellgluckman, or email her at [email protected].