Is affirmative action discriminatory? As SCOTUS weighs that, NJ Asians are divided

Brian Jon was full of hope when he applied to colleges from Bergen County Academies last year. After all, the Tenafly student scored in the top 1% of standardized testing with a 1550 SAT score, founded the Asian American Youth Council and authored a book. Instead of being welcomed with open arms, Jon received waitlist letters from the four Ivy League colleges to which he applied in 2021: Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth.

The results were puzzling to him as well as his family and peers. The core of their puzzlement is at the heart of arguments being made before the U.S. Supreme Court this week, as justices hear two cases about racial discrimination in college admissions — one taking issue with policies at Harvard University and the other with policies at the University of North Carolina.

The lawsuits were brought by an anti-affirmative action group called Students for Fair Admissions, which was started by conservative legal strategist Edward Blum. The cases could affect how colleges and universities can use race in admissions going forward: Altered policies could lower Black and Hispanic populations at elite colleges. Blum's group targeted the two schools saying they dash the promise of a colorblind society and discriminate against Asian Americans.

In North Jersey, where Asian Americans account for 17% of Bergen County's population, there is a definitive divide on support for affirmative action in college admissions. Immigrants interviewed are mostly against race-based college admissions, noting that meritocracy should rule. Second- and third-generation Asians tend to support affirmative action and the need for diversity. Parents and students also shared differing perspectives on Monday, as the court heard arguments in the Harvard and UNC cases.

Jon, 20, who immigrated to America at a young age, said he is right down the middle when it comes to the issue.

"As an Asian American, I believe that there are far more qualified candidates, looking at it statistically," Jon said. "However, I think affirmative action is our generation raising our voice."

Affirmative action:Supreme Court to consider use of race in college admissions

New Jersey students speak out

As Leonia High School senior Yena Choe pressed the submit button this past weekend for early decision at Columbia University's undergraduate college, she was fraught with both hope and anxiety. With a 1570 SAT score, she is in the rare top 1% of test takers. She is also a student leader and activist, working with the Korean American Association of New Jersey. The early-decision deadline of Nov. 1 binds students to attend their chosen school if accepted, without being able to compare packages from other schools.

Choe, 17, said she worked hard all her young life to get to this point, studying as well as attaining leadership roles. Yet she thinks stereotypes hold her back.

"Many Asian Americans, including myself, are subject to the model minority myth, especially when it comes to academic subjects such as college admissions," Choe said. "As Asians, many of our struggles are masked by the false belief that all Asians are intelligent and economically successful, and stereotyped according to these beliefs."

Choe has been hit with comments like "You're Asian; you should be smart," or "You're Asian; you should be good at math and science." Those comments fuel toxic competition among students and their parents, she said. 

Choe's parents are both immigrants from South Korea. Although her parents did not push her to aim for elite colleges, she understands they have high expectations.

"I believe that my parents' ambitions for me are largely driven by their immigrant experiences," Choe said. "As people who gave up their lives in their home countries to seek better opportunities in the U.S., they would want the best possible education for me at top schools and top programs."

Choe learned in the competitive college process that there are many inequalities. Not everyone can afford to pay the costs of hiring an SAT tutor, taking multiple exams or getting the advice of a paid college counselor.

More perspective:Supreme Court poised to dismantle diversity efforts in higher education | Opinion

Students demonstrate at SCOTUS

On the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Ridgewood High School graduate Christina Huang, 18, joined with Asian American students from UNC — where she is a freshman — as well as students who attend Harvard and Yale.

The daughter of immigrants from China who identifies as a first-generation, low-income student, Huang said she would not be at UNC if not for affirmative action. She has a weighted GPA of 4.2 and did not submit test scores when she applied as a graduating member of the class of 2021.

People think affirmative action hurts Asians, but that's not true, Huang said.

"Affirmative action is helping all of us," she said. "We need students of color working together to build a better country."

But the reality is that spots at the elite colleges are limited, said Jaden Choi, 19, a graduate of Leonia High School who is now a sophomore at Rutgers University.

"When one student gets in, another student is cut out," Choi said.

Having seen the admissions results of his Asian classmates versus non-Asians, Choi believes there's an Asian penalty to be paid when applying to selective colleges. A National Study of College Experience, led by Espenshade and Radford in 2009, showed that a student who self-identifies as Asian needs to score 140 points higher than whites, 320 SAT points higher than Hispanics, and 450 SAT points higher than African Americans. During arguments Monday, Justice Samuel Alito pressed Harvard's lawyers about its personal score. Harvard consistently rated Asian American applicants lower than others on traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage and kindness in its admissions process, according to a 2018 federal court filing in Boston.

"They're creating a discrimination to overcome another discrimination," Choi said. "Can you really say that's equity and inclusion?"

'Meritocracy and diversity can co-exist'

Braving the rain outside the Supreme Court, conservative activist and author Kenny Xu joined about 300 Asian Americans in condemning affirmative action. Asian Americans have come a long way to get to this point, as many were afraid to speak out on the issue.

Xu, 25, who authored "An Inconvenient Minority" based on the 2018 Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard case, recalls when he applied to Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania and was rejected by both. He had a nearly perfect SAT score of 2340 out of 2400 and a weighted GPA of 4.4 from his Virginia high school and was on the debate team and ran cross-country and track. Then he looked around at others who were accepted to elite schools who were less qualified, which led him to examine affirmative action and what he says is the false narrative of American meritocracy.

The less qualified getting into select colleges are typically the children of the wealthy, children of faculty, legacies and underrepresented Blacks and Hispanics, he said. Lowering the standards doesn't help the students, as they end up struggling in college, Xu said.

"Meritocracy and diversity can co-exist," Xu said, noting that there are high-performing students of all races.

'I want everyone to have an equal opportunity'

The media coverage has been very biased in favor of affirmative action, said Bridgewater resident June Wang, an immigrant from China with a 17-year-old son who is now applying to colleges.

"I'm pissed they don't talk to people like me," said Wang, 54.

Wang operates a college admissions counseling firm for Chinese immigrants. The majority of her clients are against affirmative action. In China and other Asian nations, educational success is entirely based on meritocracy, with students who score the highest getting into colleges. They do not understand the holistic review in which personality is assessed, she said.

"I want everyone to have an equal opportunity," Wang said.

The problem is that admissions officers see Asians as a monolith. They tend to have the same hobbies, like tennis and violin, and the same high test scores. So the students are all lumped into one pile, she said.

Montclair mom Amber Reed, an adoptee originally from Korea, supports affirmative action but agrees that there should be more admissions officers from diverse backgrounds who understand minorities. She thinks Asians are being used as a tool by white conservatives to drive a wedge between communities of color.

"Colleges need to consider people as a whole person," said Reed, 40, who has an 11-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter. "Diversity is not just nice to have, it's absolutely essential."

Leonia resident Manu Singh, 49, an immigrant from India, said she benefited from affirmative action at work as a senior vice president of a media company. As the mom of two children ages 13 and 8, Singh supports affirmative action even as her children may not benefit from it.

"There are still so many inequalities in this country," she said.

Scotch Plains resident Alain Au, 55, believes in meritocracy. His son Matthew, 25, graduated from Vassar College, and his daughter Kaylin, 20, is currently at the University of California San Diego.

"Everything should be merit-based," the son of two Chinese immigrants said. "It's 'can you do it?' I don't look at people by race."

Anger at Asians being pitted against Blacks

Affirmative action has been under assault since it was signed in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who issued Executive Order 11246, prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion and national origin by those organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts, said Lawrence Hamm, founder of the People's Organization for Progress in Newark.

"The right keep attacking it," Hamm said.

A 1978 graduate of Princeton University, Hamm said he personally benefited from race-conscious admissions. The fight for equality continues five decades later.

As to the current Supreme Court case, Hamm said it is typical for the majority to try to sow division within minority groups. He is angry that the conservative group is pitting Asians against Blacks.

"It's divide-and-conquer," Hamm said.

'Everything worked out well'

Reflecting on his admissions experience last year, Brian Jon, the Bergen County Academies graduate, said he is OK with what happened. He was accepted into the honors program at Lehigh University on a full scholarship and has earned student leadership positions. He couldn't be happier with his decision.

For those who didn't get in the first time, Jon said to try again. That's what he did at the University of Pennsylvania, and he was accepted into a dual enrollment program with Lehigh University. Jon is enjoying his campus life and his connections in New Jersey, recently attending the Hanbok Korean Festival in Fort Lee.

"Everything worked out well," Jon said.

Mary Chao is a columnist who covers the Asian communities of North Jersey.

Email: mchao@northjersey.com