Admissions to Stuyvesant are race-blind and based on test scores—at least for now, though Mayor Bill de Blasio is advocating for a “holistic” admissions review there as well. Seventy percent of Stuyvesant students are Asian-American, and Harvard admits at least ten Stuyvesant students per year, though less than half of that group is Asian-American, generally. When the director of college counseling at Stuyvesant was shown SFA’s analysis in her deposition, she broke down in tears:
Q. Have you ever seen statistics like this before?
A. No.
Q. What’s your reaction to them?
A. My first reaction is that, mathematically, it looks like there’s discrimination.
Q. Do you think that something like—do you think that discrepancies that big could—Sorry—
A. (Witness crying.)
Q. I’m sorry this is upsetting you. Would you like to take a break?
A. (Witness shakes her head no.)
Q. You want to keep going? You want to tell me why this is upsetting to you?
A. Because these numbers make it seem like there’s discrimination, and I love these kids, and I know how hard they work. And these just look like numbers to all of you guys, but I see their faces.
SFA’s goal at trial will be to get courts and the public to see the faces of the Asian-American students who are the losers in an ugly system of racial balancing practiced by Harvard and other elite colleges. Affirmative-action proponents recognize the profound challenge that this case poses to the tottering edifice of the policy: the district court has been inundated by amicus briefs extolling the virtues of diversity and holistic review. Expect to see this case coming to the Supreme Court in a future term.
