(ThyBlackMan.com) In regards to higher education, the worst hurdle students of color face is acceptance. I am not referring to social acceptance from other students, but college admission acceptance. They can barely even make it into a higher education institution, much less an elite and prestigious Ivy League college. In an article titled “Ivy League Fooled: How America’s Top Colleges Avoid Real Diversity,” the author explains what she labels the “Ivy League’s dirty little secret.”
She says, “(W)hile America’s most elite colleges do in fact make it a point to promote ethnic diversity on their campuses, a lot of them do so by admitting hugely disproportionate numbers of wealthy immigrants and their children rather than black students with deep roots – and troubled histories – in the United States.”
Therefore, as the author notes, the problem is not that a large number of black immigrants are entering Ivy League campuses, but that these wealthy African immigrants were not a part of the struggles that native blacks had to endure to be admitted to these campuses. The author argues that the disproportion between African Americans and wealthy African immigrants in Ivy League campuses calls into question the effectiveness of America’s Affirmative Action programs. For example, African immigrants, primarily from Nigeria and 
Ghana, make up less than 1% of America’s total population. Yet, according to studies from Princeton and Penn State University, first and second generation black immigrants make up 41% of all black students in Ivy League schools.
Ghana, make up less than 1% of America’s total population. Yet, according to studies from Princeton and Penn State University, first and second generation black immigrants make up 41% of all black students in Ivy League schools. The author is not disagreeing with the overall acceptance of immigrant African students, but she is criticizing the fact that native blacks cannot get into these colleges at the rate of the African immigrants. Essentially, the author believes it is unfair for these native black students to not be accepted because they are not financially wealthy. Overall, colleges have found a loophole in racial discrimination when considering college acceptances.
Instead of discriminating against these students for being black, native black students are essentially discriminated upon based on their income, financial wealth and their denial of a decent primary and secondary school education. Similarly, Asian-Americans are also being discriminated against. In “Asian-Americans in the Ivy League: A Portrait of Privilege and Discrimination,” Palash Ghosh explains that in 1996 California passed a proposition that acceptance into public colleges must be completely and entirely race-blind. “A direct consequence of this was that the percentage of Asian-Americans at universities like Berkeley, UC-Irvine, and UCLA immediately skyrocketed,” said Stephen D.H. Hsu, a professor at the University of Oregon, reaching nearly 50%.
However, in the past ten years, the percentage of Asian-American students admitted to Harvard has only risen 3.7%, from 14.1% a decade ago to 17.8% in 2011. If compared to the nearly 50% of Asian-American students in colleges in California that adhere to completely racially blind admission methods, it is evident that Ivy League institutions are filtering out Asian-American students. Ivy League and elite universities allow race to be a factor when granting admissions, they all “sort of magically end up with under 20% Asian students,” says Hsu. Hsu is correct in this observation, and it is disappointing, because as previously stated, Asian -Americans are the highest scoring ethnic group on the SAT’s, and therefore instead of being rewarded for their hard work, they are punished.
In “Competitive Disadvantage,” an article by Jon Marcus, the author further illustrates this discrimination towards Asian-Americans through Grace Wong’s story. Grace Wong, a scientist who develops medicinal therapies, is a Chinese immigrant who experienced discrimination and racism in America. Based on her own experiences, she changed her son’s last name to one that did not sound Asian in an attempt to protect him from experiences similar to hers. Her son a student in good standing at a top suburban high school, yet when it came time for him to apply to college, Wong’s worries arose again. As Hsu states, “It’s both true that Asians are overrepresented and that they’re being discriminated against. Both things can happen at the same time.”
Similar to the native black students, Asian-American students are being discriminated against because of their intellectual capacities. Thomas Espenshade, a Princeton sociologist, notes that Asian-American students must score an extra 140 points above their average SAT scores to compete “equally” with white students, who score less than Asian-Americans but are still accepted into Ivy League institutions.
Elite higher education institutions boast ethnic diversity when all they seem to have done is group all ethnicities of African descent into a label called “black.” By accepting the wealthiest in the melting pot, these colleges release inaccurate statistics of their campus’s diversity. Likewise, Asian-Americans are being scrutinized for their hard work and educational success. Instead of being admitted into the best higher learning institutions, their enrollments are controlled to keep their numbers at a quota. Evidently, blacks and Asian-Americans must be extra ordinary to be labeled as ordinary.
Staff Writer; Sonnelys Nuez
