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A trial has begun in a U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts and the case is expected to eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. It concerns Asian-American college applicants and the admission's practices at Harvard University, one of America's most famous and prestigious colleges. A group called "Students For Fair Admissions" is suing Harvard. It says the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants and unfairly favors African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.
How? Well when it comes to recruiting letters, Harvard sends them out to black, Hispanic and Native American students who have high grades and a score of at least 1,100 on the SAT. Asian-American men are sent recruitment letters only if their combined SAT score is at least 1,380 and Asian-American women a score of at least 1.350. Lawyers for the "Students For Fair Admissions" say this is discrimination. Harvard's Admissions Dean says it is not. That the process used is to get students who normally wouldn't think about applying to Harvard to do it. Asian-Americans make up about 22 percent of Harvard's current Freshman class. They make up 6 percent of the U.S. population as a whole.
In the past, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that race can be considered as one factor in college admissions. This is part of something called Affirmative Action which aims to encourage businesses and colleges to have more members of minority groups. The group that brought the lawsuit against Harvard was founded by people who oppose Affirmative Action. It says that in addition to Harvard's recruiting letter practices, the university manipulates student's personal ratings to benefit black and Hispanic applicants but to disadvantage Asian-Americans, and that the practice is illegal because it amounts to racial balancing.
Harvard says it considers race only to help certain applicants not to count against them and it needs to do this in order to reach it's educational goals which include a diverse campus. The case is significant because it could influence how schools recruit and admit students in the future. The trial is expected to take three weeks.
Words in This Story
eventually adv.最后,终于
concern v.涉及,关系到
recruitment n.补充,征募新兵
supreme n.至高,霸权
lawsuit n.诉讼(尤指非刑事案件),诉讼案件
significant n.象征,有意义的事物
