美国有线新闻 CNN 哈佛大学招生歧视亚裔案开庭 或影响美高校招生程序

 

A trial has begun in a U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts and the case is expected to eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme¹ Court. It concerns Asian-American college applicants² and the admission's practices at Harvard University, one of America's most famous and prestigious³ colleges. A group called "Students For Fair Admissions" is suing Harvard. It says the university discriminates⁴ against Asian-American applicants and unfairly favors African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.

How? Well when it comes to recruiting letters, Harvard sends them out to black, Hispanic and Native American students who have high grades and a score of at least 1,100 on the SAT. Asian-American men are sent recruitment letters only if their combined SAT score is at least 1,380 and Asian-American women a score of at least 1.350. Lawyers for the "Students For Fair Admissions" say this is discrimination. Harvard's Admissions Dean says it is not. That the process used is to get students who normally wouldn't think about applying to Harvard to do it. Asian-Americans make up about 22 percent of Harvard's current Freshman⁵ class. They make up 6 percent of the U.S. population as a whole.

In the past, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that race can be considered as one factor in college admissions. This is part of something called Affirmative Action which aims to encourage businesses and colleges to have more members of minority groups. The group that brought the lawsuit⁶ against Harvard was founded by people who oppose Affirmative Action. It says that in addition to Harvard's recruiting letter practices, the university manipulates student's personal ratings to benefit black and Hispanic applicants but to disadvantage Asian-Americans, and that the practice is illegal because it amounts to racial balancing.

Harvard says it considers race only to help certain applicants not to count against them and it needs to do this in order to reach it's educational goals which include a diverse campus. The case is significant because it could influence how schools recruit and admit students in the future. The trial is expected to take three weeks.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

3 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

4 discriminates   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的第三人称单数 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• The new law discriminates against lower-paid workers. 这条新法律歧视低工资的工人。
• One test governs state legislation that discriminates against interstate commerce. 一个检验约束歧视州际商业的州立法。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。