哈佛因“歧視亞裔”走上被告席

Michael Wang was a senior at James Logan High School, US, back in 2012. According to The New Yorker, he was confident that he could get into an Ivy League university, such as Harvard or Yale. He had a high GPA, excelled at debating and co-founded a math club. He was also a talented pianist.

2012年，當時邁克爾·王是美國詹姆斯·洛根高中的一名高三學生。據《紐約客》雜誌報道，他有信心足以能進入哈佛、耶魯等常春藤聯盟名校就讀。他的學分績點很高，擅長辯論，和他人共同創立了一個數學俱樂部。他還是一位有天賦的鋼琴師。

However, his dream universities turned him down. His less talented classmates, who were Hispanic or African-American, got into these schools. It made him wonder if he was rejected because he was Asian.

然而，他夢想中的名校將他拒之門外，而不如他優秀的西班牙裔和非裔同學卻被這些學校錄取。這令他懷疑自己落榜的原因是否因爲身爲亞裔。

On Oct 15, a lawsuit against Harvard brought on behalf of Asian-American students like Wang began.

10月15日，一宗代表王同學等美國亞裔學生起訴哈佛的訴訟案件正式開庭審理。

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a US non-profit organization, sued Harvard for using racial balancing in their admissions process.

美國非營利組織“學生公平錄取”狀告哈佛在錄取過程中，使用了種族平衡的手段。

The SFFA cited a Duke University economist who showed that Asian-American applicants who had a 25-percent chance of getting in would have a 35-percent chance if they were white, and even better chances than that if they were black or Latino.

該組織引用了杜克大學一名經濟學家的報告，該報告顯示，亞裔申請者錄取的機率爲25%，如果他們是白人，這一機率會達到35%，而如果申請者爲非裔或者拉丁裔，比率還會更高。

Harvard has denied the charge. The university says that it considers many factors when determining whether a student should be admitted, including academic performance and extracurricular activities. Harvard added that the number of Asian-Americans admitted to the school had greatly increased since 2010.

哈佛大學否認了這項控訴，稱在錄取學生時會考慮許多因素，如學術表現、課外活動等等。哈佛還補充道，自2010年以來，學校錄取亞裔學生的數量大大增加了。

“Race alone is never the reason a student is granted admission,” William Lee, a lawyer for Harvard, told the Guardian. “And race is never the reason a student is denied.”

“僅種族一項絕非是學生被錄取的原因，”哈佛大學代表律師威廉·李在接受《衛報》採訪時表示。“而種族也從來不是拒絕錄取某個學生的原因。”

Harvard is not the only university to have been accused of discrimination against Asian-Americans. In September, the US Justice Department began to investigate whether Yale University discriminates against Asian-Americans.

哈佛並非是被控歧視亞裔的唯一一所高校。今年9月，美國司法部開始調查耶魯大學是否存在歧視亞裔的現象。

The case has fueled a longstanding debate over affirmative action policies that allow universities to use race as a factor when considering applications. The policies traditionally benefit African-American and Latino students in an effort to offset centuries of racial discrimination, according to Time magazine.

這次的案件加劇了對於平權法案政策長久以來的討論，該政策允許高校在評估申請者時，將種族作爲考慮因素。據《時代週刊》報道，平權法案試圖彌補數百年來的種族歧視，傳統上有利於非裔與拉丁裔學生。

According to The New York Times, the SFFA wants the use of race in the admissions process to be ended, arguing that it causes inequality. “People should be judged on character and merit,” Harrison Chen, a student at Vanderbilt University, told the Los Angeles Times. “What does the color of your skin have to do with admissions?”

據《紐約時報》報道，“學生公平錄取”組織希望高校錄取過程中不再考慮種族因素，稱這種做法並不公平。“評判他人應當基於他們的性格和優點，”範德堡大學學生哈里森·陳在接受《洛杉磯時報》採訪時表示。“你的膚色和錄取有什麼關係嗎？”

However, in a statement, Harvard said that dropping the race criterion would “diminish students’ opportunities to live and learn in a diverse campus environment”.

然而，哈佛在一份聲明中表示，取消種族標準將會“減少學生在多元化的校園環境中生活學習的機會”。

Although the case has just begun, the eventual judgment “could influence admissions to US universities for years to come,” according to Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based TV station.

儘管此案剛剛開庭審理，但最終判決“會影響美國高校未來多年的錄取情況，”卡塔爾半島電視臺如此評論道。