Factors Causing Chinese Americans’ Support For Harvard In Harvard Discrimination Case

In 2014,the Students for Fair Admission(SFFA),an organization led by Edward Blum,filed a lawsuit against Harvard University of its “systematic discrimination against Asian-American applicants” in admission.The trial was held in Boston Federal District Court in 2018,and had attracted much attention because the fate of affirmative action would be determined by the trail decision.Many Chinese Americans took themselves as victims of affirmative action,and thus supported the SFFA.However,some Chinese Americans supported Harvard and stood on the opposite side of the organization that claimed to protect the rights of Asian Americans.This study attempts to investigate factors causing those Chinese Americans’ support for Harvard in the Harvard discrimination case.It first analyzes the foundation of the SFFA,the identity and the traces of Edward Blum,as well as the big donors behind to conclude that Chinese Americans support Harvard because they are convinced that Asian Americans are used as a wedge by Blum to dismantle affirmative action.Then it expounds on the importance of affirmative action to Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities.It concludes that Chinese Americans support Harvard because they fear that Asian Americans would lose protection from affirmative action and also their ethnic minority allies if affirmative action is eliminated.Finally,the essay analyzes current American racial issues to conclude that Chinese Americans support Harvard because elimination of affirmative action would contribute to the increase of racial inequality.This paper offers some insights into complex racial relations and ethnic politics in the US and hopes that it can be of some help to advance the understanding of challenges and difficulties faced by Asian Americans.