Harvard's student newspaper tries to discredit anti-affirmative action group

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The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper at Harvard University, tried its best to discredit a group that sued Harvard University over the Ivy League institution’s affirmative action practices in admissions. The Students For Fair Admission (SFFA) has been suing universities over affirmative action practices within their admissions processes since 2014, when SFFA sued Harvard University on affirmative action grounds.

The newspaper’s headline for the article was, “SFFA Funded by Large Conservative Trusts, Public Filings Show,” but a quick glance at the Crimson’s recent articles do not feature left-wing or progressive groups in the same vein. Instead, the newspaper predictably singled out SFFA for criticism.

SFFA’s lawsuit alleges that Harvard’s admissions practices are actively discriminating against Asian American student applicants, which also violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court heard arguments earing yesterday and it appeared that the conservative wing of the Supreme Court is favoring a repeal of affirmative action practices in higher education.

Harvard disagrees with SFFA’s allegations, with the Crimson pointing out that Harvard President Lawrence Bacow objecting to the Supreme Court’s decision to take up SFFA’s case.

So far, SFFA has spent under $8 million in its cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. According to the Crimson’s article, SFFA has received ‘more than $8.5 million in contributions” between 2015 and 2020 to fund their litigation efforts. SFFA has received donations from conservative foundations such as “DonorsTrust, the Searle Freedom Trust, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the 85 Fund” and about 5,000 individual contributions.

But the Crimson’s attempt to discredit SFFA fell flat on its face because it exposed the Left’s obsession with going after conservative groups, without applying the same standards to investigate left-wing and progressive organizations like Black Lives Matter, Open Society Foundation, or Arabella Advisors. If the Crimson sought to be a neutral arbiter of information, it should not only write about SFFA as a well-funded conservative organization, but also take a look at left-wing “dark money” groups, too.

Also, the article did not go into detail about SFFA’s case, which alleges extensive anti-Asian American discrimination within Harvard’s admission practices.