How Harvard Admissions Can be a Barometer of Our Deepest Divides

A new academic year is underway, and universities nationwide await the verdict in the latest case placing affirmative action on trial.

In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the plaintiffs allege that Harvard discriminates against Asian applicants by holding them to a higher academic standard, and rating them poorly on personal characteristics in order to artificially suppress their rate of admission. Their solution, expressed in a suit that the plaintiffs hope will reach the US Supreme Court, is to ban the consideration of race and ethnicity in all admissions decisions.