Yes, Asian Americans Are at the Center of the Affirmative Action Debate. But Not in the Way That You Think

Written by Jasmin Prasad and Emma Garber

Many of us will sometimes reminisce about what we never even had – but the most recent case of this has caused a whirlwind within the news. Namely, a whirlwind of discourse on affirmative action.

Affirmative action has, of course, been a topic in the news since Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003. The ruling of the case would warrant increasing student diversity within the classroom for years to come. The caveat was that the aforementioned decision would be revisited in 25 years’ time (2028).

According to a PBS article titled “Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Affirmative Action In College Admissions,” the court is taking up lawsuits filed against universities like Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The answer to what exactly has caused mass discourse to occur on affirmative action lies in the lawsuits filed – there are claims that affirmative action actively discriminates against Asian Americans in the college admissions process. 

In an interview with Dr. Dong (Professor of Communication at Pacific; Co-Chair of the University Committee for Diversity. Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Communication Graduate Director), Pacifican editor Jasmin Prasad asks questions about affirmative action from the perspective of his background in Communication.

JP: How would you define affirmative action?

Dr. Dong (DD): “The U.S. is a country of immigrants, and if you look at the whole world, it's become a global village. Looking at the U.S. nowadays, a big trend is DEI – the reason that higher education emphasizes this is to confirm affirmative action for higher education… I believe we should continue affirmative action policy because students in underrepresented populations are looking for models. They are looking for their own. They need to see professors and mentors that share similar ideas.”

JP: What are the benefits of diverse classrooms?

DD: Higher education is a place where students listen, understand, and have diverse opinions. They come to university to be exposed to different perspectives, ideas, practices, and ideologies: this is what higher education is about. If you don’t want to see diverse voices, then don’t come to higher education. You come to higher education to see diverse thinking. This will help students to become more socially aware and particularly, after graduation.

JP: What is your opinion on affirmative action in admissions and claims that it is discriminatory to Asian American and Caucasion populations?

DD: I still feel that we need to pay attention to the more underrepresented groups. Circling back, students need their own models and voices on campus and when they see their own, it will help them quite a bit. Pacific is doing a pretty good job now that we have the VP in DEI, Dr. Mary Wardell-Ghiraduzzi. We are trying to set up a good model of leading in the country and making sure that our hiring practices fall under the DEI framework. 

According to the most recent voter survey conducted by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) data in 2020, 70% of Asian Americans support Affirmative Action. This comes as no surprise given the analysis from John C. Yang (President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice)  in an interview with NBC. Yang warrants that “there needs to be less pitting against each other and more of an understanding that race-conscious admissions are an advantage.”

“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been used as a wedge and certain groups have purposefully showcased Asian American dissent to affirmative action as a way of masking their anti-Black and anti-Latino agendas… such efforts try to hide the fact that most opponents of affirmative action are really trying to increase the number of Caucasian students,” says Yang.

The lawsuit filed against Harvard claims that affirmative action discriminates against Asian Americans; lower courts have ruled that Harvard is in fact, not acting in a manner that is discriminatory against Asian Americans.

Even if we are to take the lawsuit against Harvard at face value: let's take a hard look at the statistics. For the class of 2025, Asian Americans still make up a majority of the class at 25.9% while African Americans make up 15.9% and Hispanics/Latinos make up 12.5%. 

And to be blunt, the legal institutions taking the cases are interested more in a question of constitutional law. They want to know what the text history and traditions of the 14th amendment require. Conversely, Asian American plaintiffs are alleging an injury that their attorneys probably do not have the same level of attachment to. 

It is important for Americans to understand the work that affirmative action is doing behind the scenes to help universities be diverse and fruitful places to learn. 

If the courts strike down affirmative action, not only do Black and Hispanic populations not benefit, but the circumstances in which Asian Americans benefit would be lost.