AAUP Supports Race-Based Admissions At Harvard

In filing an amicus, or friend of the court, brief, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) may be putting itself on the opposite side of Asian-Americans alleging discrimination at Harvard. “The AAUP joined with the American Council on Education and thirty-five other higher education associations in filing an amicus brief in federal court this week opposing a challenge to race-based admissions at Harvard University,” Risa Lieberwitz and Aaron Nisenson write on the academe blog maintained by the AAUP. “We argue that ‘a diverse student body is essential to educational objectives of colleges and universities, and that each institution should be able to exercise its academic judgment to determine within broad limits the diversity that will advance its own particular mission.'”

Lieberwitz is the AAUP’s general counsel and Nisenson serves as the AAUP’s senior counsel. They claim that “The case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard, asks the court to prevent Harvard and other colleges and universities from using race as part of their admission criteria for students. The plaintiff is an organization created by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum. It alleges that Harvard’s admissions process holds Asian-American applicants to a higher standard and argues that Harvard engages in ‘racial balancing’ when it could use race-neutral alternatives.”

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