The higher authorities in Harvard have just taken another step to make the world of education a more secular one. Harvard is considered one of the best Ivy League colleges in the world, and it announced on August 3 that 50.8 percent of the incoming freshmen are non-whites. This batch of 2021 primarily comprise students from minority groups and is an increase of 3.5 percent from 2016.
Of the 50.8 percent minority group students in the batch of 2021, nearly 22.2 percent are Asians, 14.6 percent are African Americans. Latinos and Pacific Islanders or Native American comprise 11.6 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Harvard’s perfect timing
This news was announced by Harvard University authorities just days after the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department decided to inspect universities for admissions policies, which discriminate against white applicants. The law department will run the investigation and take proper action against schools that are found guilty of racial discrimination while admitting students. The department decided to start this initiative after a report was submitted against Harvard where 64 Asian American students faced racial discrimination during the admission process.
The report was filed in 2015 and claimed that Harvard and several other Ivy League institutes chose white applicants over those of a different race, despite the latter getting higher scores.
What is Harvard’s stance?
Harvard’s spokeswoman Rachel Dane stated that the university concentrates more on the credibility of the student rather than their race. Therefore, if someone meets the admission standards, they get through and get admitted to the institute. Dane also revealed that Harvard judges a student on various other factors, based on the guidelines that are given by the U.S.
Supreme Court. Harvard also believes in the ideology that to become a leader in society, students need to work in harmony with people from different cultures and backgrounds.
The Supreme Court has outlawed the system of quota during the admission process, but have let race be a holistic way of reviewing students who apply to these top notch universities.
Roger Clegg, the President of the Conservative center for Equal Opportunity addressed the media saying, that the civil rights were introduced in the first place to get rid of practices like discrimination. However, now it is not only the whites who get discriminated against but also Asian Americans. Therefore, this ruling is long overdue and needs to come to action immediately to act as a safety net for people from different ethnicities.
Harvard is the alma mater of some of the finest minds in the country and is also credited for being the only institute, which has produced maximum US Presidents.
