Supreme Court Ruling on Affirmative Action Case
On June 29th, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the consideration of race in college admissions. We, the Asian American Studies faculty and the Asian American Activities Center (A3C) at Stanford, vehemently object to this decision and are deeply disappointed by this result. Affirmative action has historically been one of the most effective tools to counter institutionalized inequality and to boost access to our most influential higher education institutions for women, people of color, and the least socioeconomically privileged in our society. To ban this policy, as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson concluded in her dissenting opinion, is “truly a tragedy for us all.”
We are particularly disturbed by the ways in which our communities were used to further political interests that most Asian Americans do not support. Asian Americans have consistently advocated for affirmative action in employment and higher education since the mid-20th century. Despite this reality, White conservatives and a small but well-resourced group of Asian American conservative allies have drawn upon the racist “model minority” trope to dismantle a policy that has uplifted vulnerable and marginalized across all communities of color. In distorting and conflating real issues of anti-Asian violence and discrimination with affirmative action, they have imperiled our communities’ ongoing efforts towards true equality and justice. We unreservedly reject the use of our Asian American communities as a political and racial wedge against the interest of other racialized communities.
To our students, we share your disappointment and anger at this decision. Asian American Studies faculty and the A3C reaffirm our commitment to supporting equity, belonging, and justice for all students of color. We collectively call upon Stanford University to re-double its efforts and step up as a bold leader in advancing racial justice in U.S. higher education.
Signed,
- The Asian American Activities Center
- anthony lising antonio, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education
- Gordon Chang, Professor, History
- Thaomi Michelle Dinh, Associate Director & Lecturer, Asian American Studies
- Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Professor, English
- Marci Kwon, Assistant Professor, Art & Art History
- Koji Lau-Ozawa, Lecturer, Asian American Studies
- Young Jean Lee, Professor, Theater and Performance Studies
- Kathryn Gin Lum, Associate Professor, Religious Studies
- Hazel Markus, Professor, Psychology
- Paula Moya, Professor, English & Director, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity
- David Palumbo-Liu, Professor, Comparative Literature
- Eujin Park, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Education
- Stephen Sano, Professor, Music
- Shirin Sinnar, Professor, Law
- Shimon Tanaka, Lecturer, English
- Sharika Thiranagama, Associate Professor, Anthropology
- Jeanne Tsai, Professor, Psychology
- Linda Uyechi, Lecturer, Music
- Ge Wang, Associate Professor, Music
- Yuhe Faye Wang, Post-Doctoral Fellow, History
- Christine Min Wotipka, Assoc. Professor, Graduate School of Education
- Sylvia Yanagisako, Professor, Anthropology
