In just days now, spring college admissions letters will start to flow.

In just days now, spring college admissions letters will start to flow. Here’s a wrinkle you may not have thought of. A lot of Asian-Americans, with high scores and high grades, feel they’re not getting an even break. Feel that top colleges are tapping the brakes on Asian-American admissions to hold down Asian-American enrollment.

Meaning an Asian-American kid, they say, has to clear an unfairly high bar to get in. In the age of Tiger Mom talk and affirmative action angst, that’s a volatile charge.

Guests are:
Carolyn Chen, director in Asian American Studies at Northwestern University, where she is also professor of sociology. In December she wrote an op-ed in the New York Times titled, “Asians: Too Smart for Their Own Good?”

Rod Bugarin, has spent more than 15 years in admissions offices at selective schools, including Wesleyan, Brown and Columbia. In the New York Times’ Room for Debate pages, he wrote a response to Carolyn Chen’s op-ed: “Scores Aren’t the Only Qualification.”

David Hollinger, professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1992.