Are U.S. Colleges and Universities Barring Asian Applicants Based on their Race?

The Regulatory Transparency Project and the Center for Equal Opportunity co-sponsored a discussion on the admissions practices at elite colleges as they affect Asian American applicants.

Linda Chavez and her CEO colleagues presented and released a new study and report entitled “‘Too Many Asian Americans?’ Affirmative Discrimination in Elite College Admissions.” The CEO study illustrates that while Caltech admissions decisions are race-blind, its elite sister institutions Harvard University and MIT have established “ceilings”—or a limit—on Asian American acceptances. In addition to addressing the direct ramifications of their study’s findings, event panelists also discussed the unintended consequences of these admissions practices, whether current regulations are adequate to address issues of racial discrimination in college admissions, and what additional role government or civil society may play in redressing racially discriminatory admissions practices.