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Show a NEWS 1( Ivy League BY JAWEED l(ALEEM INS Harrison Chen and Mang Diep graduated No. 1 from public high schools. Both excelled in extracurricular activities and scored high on their college admissions tests. And both are Asian American. But the similarities stop there. Chen, who was raised by middle-clas- s Chinese immigrants outside Raleigh, N.C., was rejected by Harvard. Diep, a Vietnamese immigrant who grew up in a working-clas- s family in Reseda, Calif., got in. Their experiences have left them with distinct feelings about affirmative action and a federal lawsuit against Harvard that puts Asian Amen-can- s at the center of one of the most contentious issues in higher education. Chen opposes the consideration of race in college admissions and plans to join Asian Americans at a rally in Boston on Sunday, a day before Harvard is uled to go on trial. "People should be judged on character and merit," said fresh- Chen, an man at his backup choice, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Term. "What does the color of your skin have to do with admissions?" Diep, who favors affirmative action, plans to attend a rally a few miles away in Harvard Square in support of the university and its policies. "Removing race won't advance us to be a more just like-mind- ed FACES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 gree programs," Lacourse said. "UVU, Weber and DSU are all expected to offer associate degree programs." Along with these new positions, there are 23 faculty openings due to staff that left last semester. Travis Rosenberg, executive director of human resources, said, "When they do leave, our office conducts exit interviews to get information about why they're leaving." Rosenberg said the most common reasons they get are retirement, relocation due to weather or change GROWTH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 he said. For example, the piano class can only have as many students for the same amount of piano that fit in the room, Jarvis said. Lacourse, Jarvis and Wells said another main goal is to make school affordable to students. "With the significant growth of students and programs, without a significant increase in funding," Sabey said, "we have been working hard to use our resources A A4k Il4 e film! 411-4- 4 put on trial for possible racial discrimination and equal society," said Diep, senior at Hara vard. "Rather, it would limit educational opportunities to people from higher classes and a white background." The primary fight against af- firmative action has long been waged by whites who argue that giving special consideration to racial minorities has unfairly denied them spots at U.S. colleges and universities. But in the Harvard case, Asian Americans argue that racial considerations have made them a victim of their own academic success. They tend to get better grades and score higher on standardized tests than other races but claim they are frequently rejected as a result of "racial balancing," which is akin to racial quotas and has been ruled unconstitutional. They compare themselves to Jewish students who faced admissions quotas at elite schools in the early 20th century. "Being Asian American actually decreases the chances of admissions," the lawsuit said. Citing a Duke University economist's analysis of six years of Harvard admissions data, it claimed that Asian American applicants who have a 25 percent chance of getting in would have a 35 percent chance if they were white, and dramatically better odds than that if they were black or Latino. It also cited an internal 2013 Harvard report that suggested that admissions of Asian Americans would shoot up substantially if they were in family dynamics, better job opportunity for themselves or their partner, or lack of job opportunity in the area for their partner. Rosenberg said the turnover rate this year was 9.3 percent with the 20 faculty members leaving and the year prior was 8.3 percent with 16 resignations. He said despite the increase, the resignations for 2017-201- 8 are no more significant than any other year prior. The overall university turnover rate is 10 to 15 percent, Rosenberg said. Filling these faculty positions is a strategic and selective process, Rosen-bur- g said. Rosenberg said: "We as carefully as we can, to provide the best pos- sible experience for our students." Jarvis said it is harder to be efficient with offering classes for new programs. Since the programs are just starting, the department is heavily recruiting to find students to join the program, he said. "Another piece of scheduling is trying to be efficient and trying to maintain high quality and trying to make sure the courses are offered for the students to graduate," Jarvis said. "The advis Do you have any Email us at DixieSundixie.edu, at us using the filings said. For each applicant, the university conducts a "whole person review" that includes considerations of racial and nonracial factors such as socioeconomic background in addition to grades, test scores, recommendations, extracurricular activities and "personal qualities" such as being kind, respected and likable an approach Harvard said is well within the law. The university and its supporters say that admissions of blacks and Latinos could decline. "If the lawsuit against Harvard succeeds, it would diminish students' opportunities to live and learn in a diverse campus environment denying them the kind of colleges. "If there's a program to support minorities in competing and advancing their prospects in higher education, big majorities will be behind it," said Laura Stoker, a political scientist at UC Berkeley. "But when it comes to fiddling with selection criteria, the public support dwindles. That's because affirmative action can be so easily portrayed as a form of unwanted discrimination." Overall, 65 percent of Asian Americans support guidelines encourthe use of race in admisaging sions decisions and suggested Obama-er- a policies. In August, it submitted a legal brief backing the case against Harvard. And last month it announced it was also investigating Yale in response to complaints from race-neutr- al percent. At least one group of Asian Americans is standing firmly behind Harvard: those who got in. Many of the people set to testify for the university are current students or alumni. Asian American applicants alleging discrimination. In a statement on the affirma- five action, according to surveys by AAPI Data, which conducts policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. But among Chinese Americans, the largest Asian group in the country, support for race-base- d preferences fell from 78 percent in 2012 to 41 percent in 2016. Support among other Asian American groups held steady at 73 ad- ministration's support of the Harvard suit, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the department stepped in to "protect the civil rights of the American Asian American professors are also supporting their employer. Diep, who is slated to testify, said in court filings his SAT score of 2060 was high, though "on the lower end of the Harvard average." (c)2018 Los Angeles Tithes. people." A majority of Americans say merit alone should determine who is admitted to colleges, draft a job announcement and advertise these jobs during the Fall and form search committees to review applications, schedule and conduct interviews, and make a hiring recommendation. If we can get the job announcement done in the fall and search committees to get through screening and virtual interviews before the end of Fall Semester, we have an incredibly high rate job fill rate." Rosenberg said the DSU human resources, academic affairs and budgeting office staff will continue their search during this optimal faculty advertising period in hopes to fill these positions. LADES, THIS IS department chairs predict what classes to offer for students, Jarvis said. Sabey said the faculty of the college of education try very hard not to make decisions that would delay any student's class requirements for graduation. Wells said he and his team have been working on the schedule for several weeks, and it took three full days to finish making the schedule in the college of business and communications. message us on Facebook, or tweet "ZEAL WORLD" P4 ESCAPE FIRST! NO FIGEllilel PP,OGRAC,1 ! '' '''' ' iii"!'- - tit,''sl , , i f:311 I , , "'' :,.-::,',''- ,, i -,, :z.,--' . ,, ""'1,- ' 11 .1: o4,4 J,1,,-- ,. - .6--1; ,,,, 4 4- - (- ; l',,,,,,- 4' t NOW 610 .s..an.. ' , 1 t ' .1,''' ',4 FOR DSU STUDENTS AND , THE PUBLIC AGES 1 15-8- 0 1 1 , ers are really important in this." The advisers help news tips for us? voiceofdixie. university. Online, they used the hashtag Defend Diversity. The fight is part of a much larger battle. The plaintiff is a group called Students for Fair Admissions, which was founded by Edward Blum, a longtime foe of affirmative action. He is white. In 1992, he ran for Congress as a Republican in Houston and lost, claiming that his district was gerrymandered to guarantee the seat to minorities. He sued Texas and won at the Supreme Court. Blum was also a significant player in the 2013 Supreme Court case that struck down key portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a decision that civil rights groups say increased voting restrictions, such as voter identification laws that disproportionately affect racial minorities, in several states. And he helped a white woman sue the University of Texas, Austin over its admissions policy in the most recent affirmative action case to reach the Supreme Court, which in 2016 ruled in favor of the school. Harvard calls Blum an "anti-rac- e conscious admissions activist" and one Asian American civil rights group supporting the university in the case said the lawsuit is a A University of California, Berkeley economist who analyzed Harvard's admissions data found "no negative effect of Asian American ethnicity," according to Gallup. At the same time, surveys from the Pew Research Center show that a majority support programs to increase diversity at "thinly veiled attempt to use Asian Americans to destroy racial diversity on every campus across the country." The timing could not be better for affirmative action opponents. The recent replacement of retired Justice Anthony who wrote the Kennedy 4-- 3 majority opinion in the University of Texas case with the more conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh could give them a better chance of winning at the Supreme Court, should the case get that far. And the Trump administration has taken an increasingly aggressive stance against affirmative action. The Department of Justice launched a separate investigation into Harvard last year after Asian American groups filed a complaint saying it discriminates in admissions. In July, the department rescinded experiences that are central to Harvard's educational mission and critical for success in our diverse society," Harvard said in a statement. On campus this week, student groups held panels and speeches in support of the evaluated based on academics alone. As it stands, Asian Amen-can- s make up 6 percent of the U.S. population and 22 percent of Harvard's current freshman class. The latter number has been rising since 2010. In responding to the suit, Harvard said studies of its admissions, including its own internal review, have been either inconclusive or flawed. The data used don't include "essential" application factors such as personal essays and recommendations and excludes recruited athletes and legacy student admissions, the university said in court filings. 4014, t. 41 ok I '4 t," MUST PRE-REGISTE- ,or, ' , w? t FOR THE PROGRAM AT R REALSELFDEFENSEFORVJOLlEil.00111 ip4"I 'fiv01:4,-4611- " - 1 4, 0t I C-- 1 I ;04:1 'Ow,s,ik4t 61 r, T 0 0-- 1 ' ' ' i I A V N V..1; Al. c-- c I i I |