on Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v Harvard University and v University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC)
June 29, 2023
Joint Statement by:
Asian Wave Alliance (AWA),
Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY),
New York City Residents Alliance (NYCRA), and
Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC)
Community Advocates Celebrate U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v Harvard University and v University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC)
Asian Wave Alliance (AWA), Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY), New York City Residents Alliance (NYCRA), and Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC), all community advocates for education and all opposed to discrimination against any race, join in celebrating the Supreme Court decisions on the cases of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v Harvard University and v University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). CACAGNY, a long-standing supporter of SFFA, is particularly proud to have supported SFFA from District Court to Supreme Court with four amicus briefs. We all join in thanking SFFA and its president Edward Blum for their years of tremendous work on these landmark cases.
We are thankful that the Supreme Court has finally ruled against decades of pernicious discrimination against Asian American students. Colleges have abused Affirmative Action for too long. Their collective reward and punishment by race deprived the rights of hundreds of thousands of individual applicants. Discrimination by group identity is unconstitutional, un-American, and immoral. We call upon universities to comply with the law and stop in good faith to discriminate by race.
Yiatin Chu, NYC public school parent and President and Cofounder of AWA, stated, "As an immigrant and Asian American parent, I feel a great sense of hope and vindication in the fight for equal rights. The Supreme Court’s ruling to end affirmative action should be celebrated by everyone. The United States is a country of limitless opportunities and equal protection, and treating students equally regardless of race is a fundamental right that the court has now returned to us. Students should be evaluated on their talents, accomplishments and potential, not penalized for a checkbox on race in their college applications."
Phil Wong, President of CACAGNY, stated, “Ever since the 1978 Supreme Court Bakke Affirmative Action ruling, college admission offices have been counting their incoming students by race. This violates the principle of a colorblind Constitution. It’s contrary to the 14th Amendment and to the Civil Rights Act. It’s immoral. It often hurts the very people it is trying to help. I am glad SCOTUS Justices fixed the mistakes from the previous decisions, so that the Court’s integrity and legitimacy will be affirmed for decades to come.”
Donghui Zang, President of NYCRA, stated, “New York City Residents Alliance is thrilled to witness the historic end to decades’ long discriminative policies in college admission, which has suppressed hundreds of thousands of Asian youths’ pursuit of the American dream. We thank Mr. Edward Blum for his leadership and devotion to equal rights. We also understand that many years of discrimination would not go away overnight. We are, however, determined to fight to the day when all American children are judged on their diligence, intelligence, and capabilities rather than their skin color, for the benefit of America’s younger generations.”
Chien Kwok, Co-President of PLACE NYC, stated "PLACE NYC advocates for merit-based rigorous education. Excellence in learning outcomes is achieved with focus on the earliest years of childhood, not with racially discriminatory guises that New York City and Harvard use, such as lotteries or "holistic" criteria, to deny high-achieving students' entry into rigorous academic programs or schools. This is especially reprehensible when used by institutions because there are "too many" Asians. Violations of such rights is exactly what the Civil Rights Act protects against. It is long past due to end discrimination in education."