End of affirmative action benefits Asian Americans


In an article, "The new calculus of diversity on campus," (The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2003), Jacques Steinberg writes that the end of affirmative action in admissions has benefitted one minority: Asian Americans. Steinberg reports, after a federal court in 1996 barred the University of Texas from practicing affirmative action, the main beneficiaries were Asian-Americans. The percentage of freshmen entering the Austin campus who were Asian-American rose to 18 percent last fall, compared with 14 percent in the fall of 1995. Almost one in five freshmen at the university's flagship school is Asian, in a state Asian-Americans constitute about 3 percent of the general population. In California, the end of affirmative action results in increase of 6 percentage points to 45 percent of Asian-Americans in 2001, while Black fell by three percentage points to 4 percent. The end of race-conscious admissions has led to increase of Asian American enrollment at the public universities in California and Texas.



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