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‘Everyone Deserves an Equal Chance to Get Into College’: Readers React

Abigail Fisher, right, with Edward Blum, director of the Project on Fair Representation, left the Supreme Court after oral arguments in her case in December 2015. Her case argued that the University of Texas, Austin, had denied her admission based on her race.Credit...J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Lela Moore and

The Trump administration is preparing to start a project involving “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” according to a document obtained by The New York Times.

It remains unclear how broad the effort will be. The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it was looking at a single complaint involving the treatment of Asian-American applicants by one university, but the internal document suggested that affirmative action programs at multiple colleges could be under scrutiny.

Readers responded in droves on nytimes.com and across social media, including on The Times’s Facebook page, in Twitter posts and on Reddit. Some where aghast at what they perceived as a Trump administration attempt to target minorities, while others lauded him for exposing what they said were murky and unfair college admissions standards.

The news provoked a fierce debate on Twitter when #AffirmativeAction became a national trending topic early Wednesday.

Here are comments, some edited for length and clarity.

Several minorities shared stories about what they perceived as common misconceptions about affirmative action and race-based admissions policies.

I’m a black woman who EARNED a double-major from a top 10 school in four years, while working 20 hours during the school year and 60 hours during summers, and went on to EARN an MBA.

Nevertheless, I’ve spent my entire adult life having barely-educated white people question my qualifications and would gladly take on the burden of whiteness. Of course, I doubt you would gladly give it up.

NolaDarling in New Orleans

Really great news for all the Jareds and Beckys with the 3.2s. In a freshman year UCLA course, the professor asked us to raise our hands if we thought black kids were admitted to fill a quota. Most of the class raised their hands.

Growing up in Orange County, Calif., it was very common to hear people say it’s “so easy” to get into college if you’re black. Meanwhile, my freshman class at UCLA (2006, 17,872 students), was 2.9 percent black.

@Kia_Mak, via Twitter

Do you know how many white people truly and genuinely believe that black people get to go to college for free? I spent the summer between my senior year of high school and freshmen year of college teaching wilderness survival at a boy scout camp.

One day I’m sitting at the lunch table taking notes in my course catalog, and one of my fellow counselors asks me what I’m doing. I tell him that I’m trying to figure out which classes I want to take in the fall. He says, “Yeah, I didn’t even apply for college.” I’m like, “Why?”, and he literally says, “Can’t afford it. I’m white, so you know, it isn’t free for me.” Y’all I just stared at him.

@iSmashFizzle, via Twitter

Other readers, many who identified themselves as minorities, said they disagreed with race-conscious affirmative action policies.

I’m a Black man. As a person, I would like to go to a college not because I’m Black, but because I deserve to be there. If there should be an affirmative action, let it be in favor of the poor, through investment in early education, after school programs, etc.

Chaks in Florida

Obviously I’m biased because, look at my name! I’m Asian. My Asian roommate in college works her butt off to maintain a 3.9 for med school but a black friend of mine got into med school with a 3.3 GPA (we are from the same university, mind you).

Someone tell me that this is not reverse discrimination. Universities/med schools/institutions alike should disclose these information so that people like my roommate are not left in discouragement.

Ziwei in Baltimore

I always felt affirmative action was reverse racism, and this is obviously coming from a Latino. Everyone deserves an equal chance to get into college!

Carlos M. Infante, via Facebook

Long overdue. Ever since I was 16 and applying for college, I never understood the logic behind “fighting racism with racism.”

Brian Paul, via Facebook

Positive discrimination is still a discrimination. This is why we voted for Trump.

@MariusTheTruth, via Twitter

Some readers questioned the administration’s motives and whether the issue merited such attention.

Maybe you should consider the idea that the problem isn’t Asian-Americans vs. blacks/Latinos but whites vs non-whites? Yes, the system might be unfair against Asian-American students, but decreasing the number of black and Latino students in our colleges is NOT the solution.

Perhaps affirmative action isn’t the best solution; however, Asian-Americans who make this issue about themselves need to open a history book and realize that the Trump administration isn’t throwing them a bone.

AP in New York

It’s also a bit sad the most pressing concern for so many of us Asian-Americans is the possibility we might have to go to Duke instead of Harvard. Talk about a first world problem.

virtu333 on ApplyingToCollege subreddit

As an Asian-American who also fled a war and made it by conventional standards in America, I have always believed that if you are truly the cream of the crop, you will succeed despite affirmative action.

I also get annoyed at Asian-Americans who are against affirmative action because, we should acknowledge that and realize that when other ethnic minorities are discriminated against or lose, we will too.

MS in California

Remember when Trump told black voters, Vote for me! What have you got to lose! Apparently a lot.

Ava in California

Some called into question legacy admissions — giving preference to students whose parents had attended the same school — and whether an investigation by the Justice Department would look into those policies. Those policies, readers suggested, benefited Trump, his children and their spouses, including Jared Kushner.

Is Trump going to investigate how his son-in-law was mysteriously admitted to Harvard after his father made a multimillion dollar donation?

Marc Satterwhite, via Facebook

Would the Trump children have gained admittance to Wharton without Trump’s deep pockets? That’s the real scandal in all of this.

Laura Cohen in New York

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Everyone Deserves an Equal Chance to Get Into College’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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