Laura Meckler, Lydia Sidhom, Eric Lau
John Sailer, director of higher education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said that when programs reach their hiring goals, it’s largely because they are “overtly discriminatory.”
“These kinds of programs have certainly discriminated against White candidates,” he said. “They’ve certainly discriminated against men. They’ve certainly discriminated against Asian candidates. To be fair, you have to judge individuals on their individual performance.”
Experts in the field do not consider Asians to be underrepresented. In 2015, they made up about 13.6 percent of all faculty at top research schools compared with 10.5 percent of undergraduate students. That increased to about 17.3 percent by 2024 versus 13.6 percent of students.
Now advocates for greater diversity fear progress toward their goals will stall or reverse.