Bill Text: CA AR17 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Resolution 17 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relative to Asian American students.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AR17 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AR17-Introduced.html

BILL NUMBER: HR 17	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Kim
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Baker and Hadley)

                        APRIL 20, 2015

   Relative to Asian American students.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
             HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST



   WHEREAS, Harvard University, one of the nation's oldest, most
prestigious postsecondary educational institutions, employs
unconstitutional race-based admissions policies that disadvantage
Asian American student applicants; and
   WHEREAS, Statistical evidence shows that Harvard University holds
Asian American student applicants to a far higher standard than other
student applicants in the student enrollment process and that
Harvard University uses racial classifications to engage in the same
brand of invidious discrimination against Asian Americans that it
formerly used to limit the number of Jewish students enrolled in its
student body; and
   WHEREAS, A recent lawsuit filed against Harvard University by
Students for Fair Admissions cites an Asian American student
applicant who was denied admission to Harvard University despite
being valedictorian of a competitive high school, achieving a perfect
ACT score and a perfect score of 800 on two of the SAT II subject
exams, and participating in numerous extracurricular and volunteer
activities; and
   WHEREAS, This highly qualified student applicant was denied the
opportunity to compete for admission to Harvard University on equal
footing with other student applicants due to his race; and
   WHEREAS, Harvard University has maintained roughly the same
proportion of Asian American students to other ethnic groups for
years despite changes in application rates and qualifications, and
only the use of race or ethnicity as a dominant factor in admissions
decisions could account for the remarkably low admission rate for
high-achieving Asian American student applicants; and
   WHEREAS, In 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed
in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin that an applicant's race
should only be considered in the admissions process when student body
diversity cannot be achieved through other means; and
   WHEREAS, There are race-neutral policies that Harvard University
can use to achieve diversity in its student population, including
limiting legacy preferences, increasing financial aid to attract
minority students, and giving preference based on socioeconomic
measures or ZIP Codes; and
   WHEREAS, Other postsecondary educational institutions have
acknowledged that if they used a race-neutral plan by which they
automatically admitted the top 10 percent of each high school class
in their state, they would actually increase their minority
enrollment; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly calls upon Harvard University to end its focus on a student
applicant's race in its student enrollment process and to instead
consider the overall individual contribution of each student
candidate in a manner that does not have the practical effect of
capping the number of Asian American students enrolled in its
institution; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.