The basis of an affirmative action policy that evaluates race must consider
The basis of an affirmative action policy that evaluates race must consider the unique challenges experienced by Asian students. Consider the Asian American student population, which is widely diverse. Many students’ parents are immigrants. Some are immigrants themselves. While some students’ parents immigrated as college or graduate students themselves, others immigrated as refugees or migrant workers. Asian American households experience longer periods of continuous unemployment than any other group. Many Asian American parents do not have English fluency, which limits civic participation. Asian Americans experience employment discrimination in a variety of sectors after graduation, as do their parents.[2] The proportion of legacy applicants among Asian students is much lower than that among white students, due to historically restrictive immigration.
These factors among many make pursuing an education more difficult for Asian students. Because economic hardship alone cannot capture all of the hardships experienced by students of color, excluding Asian students from affirmative action policies and diversity scholarships would not be justified.
The argument for race-conscious affirmative action is that, all other factors being equal, people of color still experience obstacles to pursuing an education based on subtle discrimination in policy or daily practice. This certainly applies to Asian Americans. Sure, the benefit given to an affluent Asian student should not be as great as that given to a lower-income Asian student, but I’m open to the possibility that this affluent Asian student still experiences more educational obstacles than similarly affluent white students.