←back to thread

Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions [pdf]

(public.econ.duke.edu)
376 points undefined1 | 4 comments | 25 Apr 20 00:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.497s | source
Show context
mantap ◴[25 Apr 20 02:29 UTC] No.22975036[source]▶
By "Asian American" do they mean Americans of Chinese descent or what? Does it include Filipinos? Thai? Afghans? It is an odd term.
replies(4): >>22975122 #>>22975146 #>>22976004 #>>22976216 #
1. wahern ◴[25 Apr 20 02:45 UTC] No.22975122[source]▶
There are two predominate meanings: the Census Bureau definition includes the Indian subcontinent along with East and Southeast Asia. The vernacular excludes the Indian subcontinent, though perhaps less so among the Indian community.

Afghanistan would not be included in either definition. Someone of Afghanistan ancestry (I'm purposefully avoiding distinguishing the various ethnicities in Afghanistan) would be classified as either Middle Eastern or Caucasian under the census definition as well as in the vernacular.

replies(2): >>22975128 #>>22977065 #
2. renewiltord ◴[25 Apr 20 02:47 UTC] No.22975128[source]▶
Census 2020 actually has Asian Indian as a distinct race choice but you're right for the past.
3. mantap ◴[25 Apr 20 10:11 UTC] No.22977065[source]▶
Right but what I'm getting at is that when people talk about "Asian Americans" in the context of college admissions, it seems like a coded way of talking about people of Chinese descent and not e.g. Filipinos.
replies(1): >>22977525 #
4. sumedh ◴[25 Apr 20 12:15 UTC] No.22977525[source]▶
Probably because majority of the applicants would be Chinese not Filipino.