Huff Criticizes Federal Findings in Princeton Discrimination Case

Senator Still Believes Asian-American Students are Held to Higher Standards

SACRAMENTO: Senator Bob Huff (R-San Dimas) disagrees with recent findings from the U.S Department of Education in a discrimination complaint lodged against Princeton University. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights found that there is no discrimination practiced against Asian and Asian-American applicants.

Senator Huff, who earlier lent his support to more than 50 Asian-American organizations that lodged formal complaints against admissions practices at Princeton and other “Ivy League” schools, says federal investigators missed compelling evidence. He says numbers clearly show that Asian-American students have clearly been denied access to one of America’s most prestigious educational institutions.

“The Asian-American population in the United States is growing,” said Senator Huff in response to the ruling. “Applications from Asian-Americans to top schools like Princeton University are growing. The admission rates of Asian-Americans admitted to Princeton is not growing in relation to their aptitude, test results or population growth. No matter what the U.S. Department of Education says, the data demonstrates discrimination against Asian-American admissions is very real, but it’s taking place in a very sophisticated manner.”

Senator Huff points to numbers in the formal complaint filed with both the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice in response to discrimination allegations. The numbers stem from a study conducted by Princeton professor Thomas J. Espenshade and his coauthor, Alexandra Radford, titled “No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal.”

They found that when applying to top private universities an Asian-American student has to score 140 points higher than a White student, 270 points higher than a Hispanic student and 450 points higher than a Black student on the SAT to be on equal footing. Put another way, if a top private university such as Harvard accepts white students with an SAT mean score of 2160, its mean score for accepting Asian-American students would be 2300, 140 additional points.

“The U.S. Supreme Court banned the use of quotas in school admissions as early as 1978,” said Senator Huff. “The discrimination and hidden quota systems against Asian-American students is very real. This is contrary to the fundamental principles upon which this nation was built and for which so many fought to secure.”

Senator Huff sent formal letters to both the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, where he announced his support for the complaints.