Affirmative Action Under Attack

As college admissions roll out, one decision is still yet to come. Five months ago, The US Supreme Court heard Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, or SFFA, a case against Harvard College’s affirmative action practices. The plaintiff,  the conservative group SFFA, is leveraging a powerful myth known to many as the “model minority myth” to threaten the practice of affirmative action for all prospective college students.

In its most basic sense, affirmative action is “the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups regarded as disadvantaged or subject to discrimination”(Oxford Languages). The use of this practice in terms of higher education has been challenged in the Supreme Court three times, dating back to 1978. The first was University of California v. Bakke in 1978, then Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger (referring to the contemporary use of affirmative action) in 2003 and finally Fisher v. University of Texas in 2013 and 2016. In each and every one of these cases, the right to affirmative action intended to repair racial inequities in private universities has been upheld. However, this time around the case is unique.

In October 2022, the Supreme Court heard the case Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College. According to the SCOTUS blog, the case stands to decide “Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Grutter v. Bollinger and hold that institutions of higher education cannot use race as a factor in admissions.” If Grutter v. Bollinger is overruled, institutions of higher education would be unable to formally use affirmative action in their admissions processes.

SFFA is led by Edward Blum, a long-time conservative activist who has stood against policies designed to create equality for people of color. They claim that Harvard is using “race balancing” in the admissions process instead of looking at race as a “bonus” when it comes to decision-making. In this system, white conservative Blum alleges that Asian American applicants are being “unlawfully discriminated” against. If they win, race could be wholly removed as a factor in the admissions process, consequentially turning universities “colorblind.”

Historically, cases against affirmative action have had little weight, as most claimed that white individuals were being discriminated against in the college admission process. The difference in this case is that SFFA claims that Harvard is discriminating against not only white students but Asian American students as well. By suggesting that Asian Americans are a minority that have managed to escape racial inequity, Blum poses a real threat to the use of affirmative action in higher education.

A commonly circulated belief that Asian Americans have managed to dodge racial oppression and become equally as successful as white Americans has become increasingly widespread. In a discussion about affirmative action, Kelly Slay, Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, said, “The Asian American community is often presented as a monolith/homogenous group which masks the fact that certain subgroups of Asian Americans actually have low college attainment rates,”

According to a study conducted by Pew Research in 2019, about 43% of Chinese Americans born in the US have a bachelor’s degree, which is higher than the overall average in the United States. However, within other Asian American subgroups, the attainment rates are lower. For instance, only 22% of  Hmong Vietnamese Americans and 20% of Laotian Americans born in the US have a bachelor’s degree, which falls below America’s national average.

The concealment of the diversity in experience that exists between each Asian American individual, both within the Supreme Court case and more generally in society, is commonly credited to a stereotype known as the model minority myth. The myth bundles all Asian Americans into one group that is adjacent to whiteness instead of a wildly diverse group of individuals.

In practice, “[the model minority myth] postulates that Asians are a model for other minorities,” David Kim, a professor at USF, said. This stereotype perpetuates the idea that Asian Americans are an exemplary minority that somehow managed to persist through racism and achieve a kind of success that is highly coveted in American society. But what makes this a negative stereotype? As Emily Lam ’23  put it, “[The myth] was never made for Asian Americans; it was made as a wedge of white supremacy.” Taking roots in the 1960s, Kim explained how the myth was brought into circulation at a time when many people were criticizing Black protests for civil rights. “Here comes this journalist who says, ‘look at these Japanese and Chinese Americans. They are doing so well, even though they have been subjected to racism.’ He just gave voice to what many people had been thinking about,” Kim said.

Who was this fabled journalist? A sociologist named William Petersen. His famed article was called “Success story, Japanese American Style.” His words are thought to have been the articulation of the model minority myth, which continues to stifle the movements of multiple POC groups today.

The myth portrays Asian Americans as the golden standard among racial minorities, having achieved a coveted stature in society, similar to that of white Americans. “It’s actually a tool used for a couple of things. It keeps racial minorities/POC divided. It, in some sense, placates Asian Americans themselves. It is meant to keep them politically docile,” Kim said.

The limitation which occurs for Asian Americans due to the model minority myth is called the “bamboo ceiling,” according to Lam. “Similar to how the glass ceiling exists for misogyny, the bamboo ceiling for East Asians not being promoted to managerial positions,” they said.

Oftentimes, the stereotype portrays Asian Americans as overly hard-working and overly timid. Essentially, the model minority myth paints the picture that Asian Americans are naturally gifted hard workers — often working in STEM — excluding aspects of them as individuals. When referring to “Asians,” the myth only really references subgroups of Asians that are considered “Asian” through the western lens: Western and Central Asians are generally disregarded from this stereotype. Even in Asian subgroups to which the myth does apply, the manifestation of the myth changes when you look from South to Southeast to Eastern Asians.

Even before Blum and SFFA mobilized it, the model minority myth already played into how Asian American identifying students step into the college process. “It’s in the back of my head that people see me just as an Asian that works so hard to get into a university,” Nicole Joseph, ’23, said.

Even outside the culture of college admissions, the myth is present at LWHS. “There definitely is an undercurrent of it in some ways, especially in STEM classrooms,” Kreeya Makan, ’23 said. The myth can make Asian Americans feel uneasy about working hard, even at college-prep schools like LWHS, where there is so much pressure on all students to succeed.

“I feel as though I am conforming to the myth, although sometimes it’s not because I am Asian. It is more so that this culture is affecting everyone, but it looks more on you if you are Asian and you get more negative attention,” Will Yu, ’23  said, commenting on the correlation between the culture to succeed at LWHS and the model minority myth. For many, the model minority myth has devalued part of the Asian American experience by stating that Asian Americans are vaulted over challenges on the path to success.

The prospect of removing affirmative action practices, especially in the name of Asian American discrimination has caused immense indignation for many.  Alyson Tom, associate director of college counseling at Castilleja School, expressed her distaste for the way in which the Harvard case has been framed. “It’s my opinion that Blum was looking for Asian Americans as a mascot for his case; the research shows that so many Asians agree with affirmative action,” she said.

According to the Asian American Voter Survey, 69% of Asian Americans are in support of affirmative action. “I think the general concept of affirmative action is something that is so important in society. Diversity has so many intrinsic benefits. It’s not something that can be argued,” Yu said.

A part of why many Asian Americans are in support of affirmative action is because of how it helps properly portray the Asian American experience which leads to real diversity in colleges. If the plaintiff wins Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard, then the use of affirmative action will be banned, therefore making colleges “race blind.” Yet, many BIPOC — Asian American or not —  may feel that their cultures and race heavily shape their lived experience and should be considered in a life-altering decision.

“I think that if I wasn’t Asian, I wouldn’t have had the upbringing and experience I did,” Yu said. Having traditions and culture that are specially unique from the dominant white culture is an important part of one’s identity that many want to celebrate in their college application.

While many are against the removal of affirmative action, considering the enormous impact it has had on the lives of so many there also seems to be agreement that, at the moment, affirmative action is not the perfect solution but simply the best solution.

“Because education in the US as we know it was historically made to serve property-owning white men, it doesn’t work for Asian Americans and it doesn’t work for Black and brown students,” Lam said. They explained that as such, no amount of pitting Asian American students against other minorities will effectively change a system that is built for their white counterparts.

While affirmative action can attempt to work around the model minority myth and other biases, it is quite difficult to navigate in a system that is ultimately rooted in white supremacy. Even if Blum and SFFA do not change affirmative action practices, the system that would remain is not perfect. Lam said, “ultimately affirmative action is kind of a band aid solution.” Only time will tell what the future of affirmative action stands to be. The Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision on this case by June of 2023.

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Mira Krish

Mira Krish is a junior and a writer for the Paper Tiger. Outside of journalism she loves sewing, cooking and being in the water.

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