By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
A student group is suing the University of California (UC) for allegedly discriminating against Asian and Asian American students and white students in its admissions process.
The group, Students Against Racial Discrimination, alleges that UC favors Black and Hispanic applicants over Asian and white applicants. The group says that this practice runs afoul of California’s 1996 voter-passed legislation, Proposition 209, which bans the use of race, sex, or ethnicity in college admissions decisions, contracting, and employment.
This is not the first time a coalition representing Asian and Asian American applicants has sued a university. In 2014, anti-affirmative action group, Students for Fair Admissions, sued Harvard University for allegedly purposefully limiting the number of Asian and Asian American students it admitted.
Founded in 2024, Students Against Racial Discrimination is being represented in the suit by America First Legal, a firm founded by Stephen Miller, Trump’s former deputy chief of staff for policy, and conservative attorney Jonathan Mitchell, who is credited for helping to create Texas’ strict anti-abortion law, S.B. 8.
Reuters reported that the group pointed to UC Berkeley’s admission rates as one of the examples supporting their claims in the suit. In 2010, the group said, admission rates stood at 21% for all applicants, and 13% for Black applicants. By 2023, though overall admission rates had dropped to just 21%, admission rates for Black applicants had only dropped to 10%.
UC Berkeley Campus. Wikimedia Commons.
The university said in a statement that it changed its policy when voters passed Prop 209, and now only collects demographic data for statistical purposes.
The lawsuit follows impactful political decisions regarding affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices.
In a landmark 2023 ruling, the United States Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in colleges and universities.
Since signing executive orders aimed at dismantling 60-year-old DEI hiring practices on the eve of his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump and his administration have begun to face legal challenges. On Monday, a coalition sued to block Trump and his administration from enacting the president’s anti-DEI executive orders.