Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions [pdf]

In 1925, Jewish students at Harvard made up 28% of all attendees. President Lawrence Lowell brought into existence policies to judge individuals on character after failing to limit the number of Jewish attendees to his school. Once these policies were put into action, Jewish attendance at his school declined, eventually dropping below the 15% limit he was originally seeking to put it into existence.

It wasn't that the Jewish people were being discriminated against. They were just not as well-rounded, lacking in character and that savoir faire that came so easily to anyone who was not Jewish. It may have been genetic or cultural. I guess we'll never know. Hard to tell why they just couldn't pull it off.

Or, it may have been like how orchestral directors are completely motivated to recruit the best musicians. And, they will strongly tell you and themselves that gender, ethnicity, etc... are irrelevant. All that matters is how well you play. And yet, somehow if the people selecting the recruits are cut off from information that let's them determine the gender of the recruits, suddenly female musicians are selected at a much higher rate by the same directors!

I would be amazed if 1925 Harvard physically cut of their recruiters from knowing which students were Jewish.

Wasn't that study mostly debunked? My understanding was that journalists took some inconclusive data and blew it out of proportion and it became a self-perpetuating meme, disconnected from the original source.