For Immediate Release
Livingston New Jersey, November 4, 2022. On October 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA)’ lawsuits against Harvard and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Following the hearing, Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) issues the following statement:
In late 2014, after learning that SFFA’s lawsuit against Harvard was discredited by liberal media, the founders of AACE started our journey to support SFFA. In May 2015, we united 64 Asian American organizations and filed a civil rights complaint against Harvard’s anti-Asian discriminatory admissions practice. We galvanized Asian American communities to stand firmly behind SFFA and exposed the Ivy League college’s anti-Asian discrimination on the national stage.
Over the last eight years, in support of SFFA, we teamed up with over 360 Asian American organizations, organized the Boston Rally in 2018, encouraged Asian American students to join SFFA’s lawsuits, and filed four amicus briefs.
On Sunday October 30, AACE and 15 partner organizations held a historic “Equal Education Rights for All” Rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. At the rally were hundreds of parents, students and concerned citizens with diverse racial backgrounds from Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, California and other states. Over 20 speakers with diverse racial background delivered inspiring speeches. This rally showcased Asian Americans’ decades long and nationwide grassroots movement fighting for equal education rights, and our request for the U.S. Supreme Court, as Yukong Mike Zhao, President of AACE puts it: “Please honor the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and eliminate the use of race in college admissions. Please end anti-Asian discrimination and safeguard equal education rights for ALL Americans! “
After eight years of fighting side-by-side with SFFA, on October 31, we finally saw Asian Americans’ day in the U.S. Supreme Court. We are very encouraged that six conservative Justices raised sharp and skeptical questions, challenging the assertions, premises and logic of the arguments presented by attorneys for Harvard and UNC. The Justices repeatedly brought up the 14th Amendment and Title VI of 1964 Civil Rights Act, the two laws affirmative action violates. We were disappointed that three other Justices tried hard to justify the use of race in college admissions despite its known anti-Asian discriminatory results, without citing any clause in the U.S. Constitution to support their premises.
With both the laws and public opinion on our side, we look forward to a decision from the Court to end the unconstitutional and failing policy of using race in college admissions.
Asian American Coalition for Education
MEDIA CONTACT:
Swann Lee, Phone: 617-651-1328 Email: swanleeca@gmail.com
About the AACE: www.asianamericanforeducation.org
Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) is a non-political, nonprofit, grassroots national alliance with over 300 partnering organizations nationwide. In May 2015, founders of AACE united 64 Asian American organizations and filed a civil rights complaint against Harvard’s anti-Asian discriminatory admissions practice. AACE galvanized Asian American communities to stand firmly behind SFFA and exposed the Ivy League college’s anti-Asian discrimination on the national stage. Over the last eight years, in support of SFFA, AACE teamed up with over 360 Asian American organizations, organized the Boston Rally in 2018, encouraged Asian American students to join SFFA’s lawsuits, and filed four amicus briefs. Over the years, besides supporting SFFA, we have advanced the cause of equal education rights for the Asian-American community in many other areas, including federal adoption of AACE policy recommendation on college admissions in July 2018, federal lawsuit against Yale University in 2020, support to Asian Americans’ fights for equal education rights in Maryland, New York, Washington, California, Massachusetts and other states. AACE is the proven leader in fighting for Asian-American children’s equal educational rights.