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Mar 24, 2023ยทedited Mar 24, 2023Liked by Yassine Meskhout

Why is the judge running interference here? I obviously get why Harvard wants this kind of stuff under seal but the judge seems to be trying to balance the public interest vs protecting Harvard's reputation on the subject matter of this very case.

And my understanding is that this was a trial without a jury (from the article in the New Yorker), what is even the legitimate purpose of a sidebar in those cases, I'd assume just to discuss what should be under seal?

I always for get to add this kind of thing: Liked the article love this kind of reporting on how the inner workings of systems lead to certain outcomes.

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Mar 23, 2023ยทedited Mar 23, 2023Liked by Yassine Meskhout

Of course Harvard and other elite colleges discriminate against Asians. I don't need some crude and tasteless memo to tell me that, although I am surprised that anyone would put something so ugly in writing.

The reason isn't even necessarily racial animus, per se. Just as the Ivies once discriminated against Jews and Catholics - Asian strivers tend to be The Wrong Sort Of People who come from the wrong social classes and who have the wrong attitudes.

The point of sending your kid to Stanford or Harvard is so that your kid will rub shoulders with The Right Sort Of People, the sort of humans who know that they were just born to rule the world and never really questioned this self-obvious truth. Admit too many kids who are trying too hard all at once, kids whose parents worked 18 hour days at a dry cleaner or convenience store and the wrong sort of messages might get sent, the wrong sort of values encouraged. People might even question their social betters!

Just as the de facto quotas on Jews were relaxed, once enough Jews became members of the upper classes with the right sort of WASPy values that they wouldn't mess up the social mix at Yale, I suspect that this will change with time, regardless of any lawsuit.

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