2018.6.19纽约时报：报告指哈佛大学给亚裔申请者性格打低分

Harvard Rated Asian-American Applicants Lower on Personality Traits, Suit Says

报告指哈佛大学给亚裔申请者性格打低分

Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than others on traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” according to an analysis of more than 160,000 student records filed Friday by a group representing Asian-American students in a lawsuit against the university.

一个代表亚裔美国学生的组织分析了超过16万名学生的档案，于本周五在对哈佛大学的诉讼中提交了分析报告。根据这份报告，在“积极人格”、亲善力、勇敢、善良和“广受尊敬”等性格特质上，哈佛一直对亚裔申请人打出低于其他族裔申请人的评分。

Asian-Americans scored higher than applicants of any other racial or ethnic group on admissions measures like test scores, grades and extracurricular activities, according to the analysis commissioned by a group that opposes all race-based admissions criteria. But the students’ personal ratings significantly dragged down their chances of being admitted, the analysis found.

该组织反对一切由种族出发的录取标准，它委托进行的这项分析显示，在测验得分、等级分、课外活动这些录取指标上，亚裔美国学生的得分比其他族裔的申请人都高。但分析也发现，亚裔学生的性格评分显著拉低了他们的录取机会。

The court documents, filed in federal court in Boston, also showed that Harvard conducted an internal investigation into its admissions policies in 2013 and found a bias against Asian-American applicants. But Harvard never made the findings public or acted on them.

提交给波士顿联邦法院的这些法庭文件还显示，哈佛大学在2013年对其招生政策进行过内部调查，也发现了对亚裔申请人存有偏见。但哈佛从未公布调查结果，也并未对此采取行动。

Harvard, one of the most sought-after and selective universities in the country, admitted only 4.6 percent of its applicants this year. That has led to intense interest in the university’s closely guarded admissions process. Harvard had fought furiously over the last few months to keep secret the documents that were unsealed Friday.

哈佛大学是美国最热门也最难申请的大学之一，今年仅录取了4.6％的申请人。这使人们对哈佛严格保密的录取过程充满好奇。为避免公布本周五披露的这些材料，哈佛在此前数月进行了激烈的抗争。

The documents came out as part of a lawsuit charging Harvard with systematically discriminating against Asian-Americans, in violation of civil rights law. The suit says that Harvard imposes what is in effect a soft quota of “racial balancing.” This keeps the numbers of Asian-Americans artificially low, while advancing less qualified white, black and Hispanic applicants, the plaintiffs contend.

此次诉讼指控哈佛大学在制度上歧视亚裔美国人，违反了民权法。诉讼称哈佛事实上实施了“种族平衡”的软配额。原告指出，这个制度人为地压低亚裔学生人数，使资质逊色的白人、黑人和西语裔申请人得到更多录取机会。

The findings come at a time when issues of race, ethnicity, admission, testing and equal access to education are confronting schools across the country, from selective public high schools like Stuyvesant High School in New York to elite private colleges. Many Ivy League schools, not just Harvard, have had similar ratios of Asian-American, black, white and Hispanic students for years, despite fluctuations in application rates and qualifications, raising questions about how those numbers are arrived at and whether they represent unspoken quotas.

在分析报告被披露的同时，全美各地从纽约史岱文森高中(Stuyvesant High School)等精英公立高中到精英私立大学都面临种族、入学、考试和教育机会平等之类的问题。不只哈佛大学，很多常春藤盟校多年以来都保持了近似的亚裔、白人、黑人、西语裔学生比例，而每年的申请人数、生源资质其实都有波动，这就让人要问这样的比例是怎么达到的，是否意味着心照不宣的配额制。

Harvard and the group suing it have presented sharply divergent views of what constitutes a fair admissions process.

对于什么是公平的录取过程，哈佛大学和提起诉讼的组织表达了截然不同的观点。

“It turns out that the suspicions of Asian-American alumni, students and applicants were right all along,” the group, Students for Fair Admissions, said in a court document laying out the analysis. “Harvard today engages in the same kind of discrimination and stereotyping that it used to justify quotas on Jewish applicants in the 1920s and 1930s.”

“亚裔校友、在校生和申请人的怀疑原来一直都是对的，”名为“大学生公平录取”(Students for Fair Admissions)的组织在列出上述分析报告的一份法庭文件中说，“哈佛大学今日持有的歧视与成见，与它在1920、1930年代给犹太申请人设定限额并为之自辩时如出一辙。”

Harvard vigorously disagreed on Friday, saying that its own expert analysis showed no discrimination and that seeking diversity is a valuable part of student selection. The university lashed out at the founder of Students for Fair Admissions, Edward Blum, accusing him of using Harvard to replay a previous challenge to affirmative action in college admissions, Fisher v. the University of Texas at Austin. In its 2016 decision in that case, the Supreme Court ruled that race could be used as one of many factors in admissions.

哈佛大学在周五表示强烈反对，声称校方专家的分析显示并无歧视，而追求多元化是学生录取的重要一环。哈佛抨击了“大学生公平录取”的创始人爱德华·布鲁姆（Edward Blum），指责他利用起诉哈佛再次非难大学录取工作中的积极平权措施，上一次是费舍尔起诉德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校。2016年最高法院对后者做出裁决，认定种族可以是学生录取过程中的诸多考虑因素之一。

“Thorough and comprehensive analysis of the data and evidence makes clear that Harvard College does not discriminate against applicants from any group, including Asian-Americans, whose rate of admission has grown 29 percent over the last decade,” Harvard said in a statement. “Mr. Blum and his organization’s incomplete and misleading data analysis paint a dangerously inaccurate picture of Harvard College’s whole-person admissions process by omitting critical data and information factors.”

“全面透彻地分析数据和证据，就能清楚地看到哈佛大学并不歧视任何群体的申请人，包括亚裔，亚裔的录取比例在过去十年中已经增长了29％，”哈佛大学在一份声明中说。“布鲁姆先生和他的组织片面地、误导性地分析数据，忽略了关键数据和背景信息，对哈佛大学全面评估每个申请人的录取过程做出了严重失实的描绘。”

In court papers, Harvard said that a statistical analysis could not capture the many intangible factors that go into Harvard admissions. Harvard said that the plaintiffs’ expert, Peter Arcidiacono, a Duke University economist, had mined the data to his advantage by taking out applicants who were favored because they were legacies, athletes, the children of staff and the like, including Asian-Americans. In response, the plaintiffs said their expert had factored out these applicants because he wanted to look at the pure effect of race on admissions, unclouded by other factors.

在法庭文件中，哈佛大学称，统计分析看不到哈佛录取工作中涉及的许多无形因素。哈佛声称原告方专家、杜克大学经济学家彼得·阿奇迪亚科诺(Peter Arcidiacono)为有利的结论歪曲数据，筛掉了因校友子女、运动员、教工子弟等身份而受惠的申请人，这其中也有亚裔。原告方对此辩称，专家剔除这些申请人是希望排除其他影响因素，单纯着眼于种族对学生录取的影响。

Both sides filed papers Friday asking for summary judgment, an immediate ruling in their favor. If the judge denies those requests, as is likely, a trial has been scheduled for October. If it goes on to the Supreme Court, it could upend decades of affirmative action policies at colleges and universities across the country.

诉讼双方在周五都提交了文件，要求法庭立即做出有利己方的判决。法官很可能拒绝他们的请求，如果拒绝，案件将在10月进行庭审。如果案件诉至最高法院，可能会推翻全国各地的大学实行了几十年的平权法案。

Harvard is not the only Ivy League school facing pressure to admit more Asian-American students. Princeton and Cornell and others also have high numbers of Asian-American applicants. Yet their share of Asian-Americans students is comparable with Harvard’s.

除了哈佛之外，其他一些常春藤盟校也面临着招收更多亚裔美国学生的压力。普林斯顿、康奈尔等校都有大量亚裔申请人。而这些大学的亚裔学生比例与哈佛相当。

In Friday’s court papers, the plaintiffs describe a shaping process that begins before students even apply, when Harvard buys data about PSAT scores and G.P.A.s, according to the plaintiffs’ motion. It is well documented that these scores vary by race.

在周五的法庭文件中，原告方提出的一项动议里描述了哈佛大学这种歧视的形成过程，在学生还没开始申请、哈佛购买PSAT（学业能向初测）分数和GPA（成绩平均绩点）等数据时，这个过程就开始了。文件充分论证了这些分数因种族而异。

The plaintiffs’ analysis was based on data extracted from the records of more than 160,000 applicants who applied for admission over six cycles from 2000 to 2015.

原告报告中的数据取自2000年至2015年间六个招生周期中超过16万名申请人的档案。

They compare Harvard’s treatment of Asian-Americans with its well-documented campaign to reduce the growing number of Jews being admitted to Harvard in the 1920s. Until then, applicants had been admitted on academic merit. To avoid adopting a blatant quota system, Harvard introduced subjective criteria like character, personality and promise. The plaintiffs call this the “original sin of holistic admissions.”

哈佛大学在1920年代为控制越来越多的犹太学生人数所采取的措施得到了详尽记载，原告方把哈佛对待亚裔的措施与之进行了比较。在那之前，录取只依据申请人的学业能力。为了不让配额制太明显，哈佛采用了性格、气质、前途等主观性评估标准。原告方称之为“全面入学评估的原罪”。

They argue that the same character-based system is being used now to hold the proportion of Asian-Americans at Harvard to roughly 20 percent year after year, except for minor increases, they say, spurred by litigation.

原告方认为哈佛现在用同样的基于性格的录取评估制度，年复一年地把亚裔学生比例控制在20%左右，除了诉讼带来过几次微小的增长。

White applicants would be most hurt if Asian-American admissions rose, the plaintiffs said.

他们认为录取更多亚裔对白人申请者最为不利。

On summary sheets, Asian-American applicants were much more likely than other races to be described as “standard strong,” meaning lacking special qualities that would warrant admission, even though they were more academically qualified, the plaintiffs said. They were 25 percent more likely than white applicants to receive that rating. They were also described as “busy and bright” in their admissions files, the plaintiffs said.

原告方称，在评估汇总表上亚裔比其他种族的申请人有更大可能得到“一般优秀”的评价，也就是说还缺乏确保录取的特长，哪怕他们学业资质更优。亚裔获得这一评价的几率比白人申请者高出25%。原告方表示，亚裔在录取评估文件里还被描述为“忙碌而聪敏”。

One summary sheet comment said the Asian-American applicant would “need to fight it out with many similar” applicants. The plaintiffs’ papers appeared to offer other examples of grudging or derogatory descriptions of Asian applications, but they had been redacted.

汇总表里的一条评论说，亚裔申请人“需要在与众多相似申请人的竞争中脱颖而出”。原告方提交的文件中，似乎还有更多对亚裔申请人不情不愿或有意贬损的描述，但已作涂黑处理。

In its admissions process, Harvard scores applicants in five categories — “academic,” “extracurricular,” “athletic,” “personal” and “overall.” They are ranked from 1 to 6, with 1 being the best.

录取过程中哈佛大学对申请人的评估分为“学业”、“课外”、“运动”、“个性”和“综合”五类。评级从1到6，1级是最好的。

Whites get higher personal ratings than Asian-Americans, with 21.3 percent of white applicants getting a 1 or 2 compared to 17.6 percent of Asian-Americans, according to the plaintiffs’ analysis.

据原告方的分析报告，白人申请者在个性上得到的评价高于亚裔，21.3%的白人得到1级或2级，而亚裔得到这两个评级的只有17.6%。

Alumni interviewers give Asian-Americans personal ratings comparable to those of whites. But the admissions office gives them the worst scores of any racial group, often without even meeting them, according to Professor Arcidiacono.

身为校友的面试官给亚裔和白人的个性评分不相上下。但阿奇迪亚科诺说，招生办公室常常连亚裔申请人的面都没见就给出了所有种族里最差的评分。

Harvard said that while admissions officers may not meet the applicants, they can judge their personal qualities based on factors like personal essays and letters of recommendation.

哈佛大学则表示，招生官员有可能并不面见申请人，但他们从申请人的申请陈述以及推荐信等材料也能判断其个性特质。

Harvard said it was implausible that Harvard’s 40-member admissions committee, some of whom were Asian-Americans, would conclude that Asian-American applicants were less personable than other races.

哈佛大学还表示，哈佛的40人招生委员会——其中一些成员为亚裔——不可能下结论说亚裔比其他族裔的人更难相处。

University officials did concede that its 2013 internal review found that if Harvard considered only academic achievement, the Asian-American share of the class would rise to 43 percent from the actual 19 percent. After accounting for Harvard’s preference for recruited athletes and legacy applicants, the proportion of whites went up, while the share of Asian-Americans fell to 31 percent. Accounting for extracurricular and personal ratings, the share of whites rose again, and Asian-Americans fell to 26 percent.

哈佛大学的官员承认，校方2013年的内部调查发现，如果录取学生只看学业成绩，亚裔学生的比例将从现实中的19％上升到43％。将哈佛优先录取运动员和校友子女的因素考虑在内，则白人学生比例上升，亚裔比例下降到31％。再算上课外活动及个性的评分，白人的比例就进一步上升，亚裔比例下降到26％。

What brought the Asian-American number down to roughly 18 percent, or about the actual share, was accounting for a category called “demographic,” the study found. This pushed up African-American and Hispanic numbers, while reducing whites and Asian-Americans. The plaintiffs said this meant there was a penalty for being Asian-American.

这项调查发现，把亚裔学生比例降到接近18%或者现有实际水平的，是算上了所谓“人口分布”的因素。这使非裔和西语裔学生比例提高，压低了白人和亚裔比例。原告方指出，这就等于是对亚裔身份的一种惩罚。

“Further details (especially around the personal rating) may provide further insight,” Harvard’s internal report said.

哈佛大学的内部报告说：“更多细节（尤其是有关个性评估的）可能会带来更深入的了解。”

But, the plaintiffs said in their motion Friday, there was no further insight, because, “Harvard killed the study and quietly buried the reports.”

但原告方在周五的动议中说，没有更深入的了解了，因为“哈佛终止了研究，悄悄掩藏了研究报告。”

Harvard said that the review was discounted because it was preliminary and incomplete.

哈佛则表示，没有重视这份内部报告是因为调查还比较初步，不够完整。

At the end of the admissions process, the class of applicants is fine-tuned through a so-called “lop list,” which includes race. Almost the entire page in which the plaintiffs describe that fine-tuning has been blacked out. Mr. Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions, said Friday that it was “disreputable” of Harvard to complain that information was being taken out of context while at the same time insisting on significant redactions of the evidence.

在录取工作的最后，申请人的评分会通过所谓的“优先权丧失清单”(lop list)进行微调，过程中也考虑了种族因素。原告方藉以描述这一微调过程的文件几乎整页都被涂黑了。“大学生公平录取”组织的创始人布鲁姆在周五表示，哈佛大学一面坚持进行大面积的证据涂黑，一面又抱怨别人的分析对这些信息断章取义，是“不光彩的”。

In a heavily redacted section, the plaintiffs describe how Harvard and 15 other elite schools share notes about the race of admitted students at a meeting of the Association of Black Admissions and Financial Aid Officers of the Ivy League and Sister Schools every year. The court papers portray them as a sort of secret society of admissions officers exchanging information about race, a sensitive aspect of admissions.

在文件中一处大幅涂黑的部分，原告方描述了在“常春藤联盟及姊妹校黑人录取与资助官协会”(Association of Black Admissions and Financial Aid Officers of the Ivy League and Sister Schools)每年的例会上，哈佛怎样与另外15家精英大学共享录取学生的种族情况。法庭文件把他们描绘成某种秘密社团，招生官员在其中交换学生的种族信息，这是招生工作中敏感的一面。

Harvard’s class of 2021 is 14.6 percent African-American, 22.2 percent Asian-American, 11.6 percent Hispanic and 2.5 percent Native-American or Pacific Islander, according to Harvard’s website.

哈佛大学网站显示，哈佛的2021届学生中14.6%是非裔，22.2%是亚裔，11.6%是西语裔，2.5%是美洲原住民及太平洋岛民。