Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College et al

Filing 150

Letter/request (non-motion) from Students for Fair Admissions . (Attachments: # 1 Affidavit Ex A, # 2 Exhibit Ex B, # 3 Affidavit Ex C, # 4 Affidavit Ex D, # 5 Affidavit Ex E)(Consovoy, William)

EXHIBIT C

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC.,
Plaintiff,
v.

Civil Action No.
1:14-cv-14176ADB

PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD
COLLEGE (HARVARD CORPORATION),
Defendant.

DECLARATION OF EDWARD BLUM
Edward Blum, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, declares the following:
1.

I am the President of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (“SFFA”).

2.

SFFA is a nonprofit association with thousands of members, including

students, parents, and other supporters.
3.

SFFA’s purpose is to defend human and civil rights secured by law,

including the right of individuals to equal protection under the law, through litigation and
other lawful means.
4.

In addition to this lawsuit against Harvard, SFFA has also brought a

lawsuit against the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, alleging that the university
has been violating the Fourteenth Amendment and federal civil rights laws through
discriminatory admissions policies. That litigation is ongoing in the U.S. District Court
for the Middle District of North Carolina.
5.

SFFA also has been leading the charge against other universities engaged

in similar discriminatory admissions practices. For example, in March of 2015, the New

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Republic reported that Yale Law School was destroying its student admissions evaluation
records to avoid being forced to hand over these documents to students who request
them. Recognizing the serious legal concerns, SFFA sent a letter to Yale objecting to its
destruction of these important documents. SFFA sent similar letters to other schools
cautioning them against taking similar steps. In these letters, SFFA explained that
destruction of student files “suggests resistance to enforcement of the Fourteenth
Amendment and federal civil rights law sadly reminiscent of behavior the Supreme Court
intervened to stamp out decades ago” and warned that such resistance “will only heighten
the need for further judicial intervention.”
6.

In my capacity as President of SFFA, I communicate with people who are

interested in joining SFFA as members. Many potential members of SFFA have
expressed concerns to me about their identity being disclosed if they were to join SFFA.
7.

Among the concerns that potential and current SFFA members have

expressed is the fear that they will be retaliated against for being associated with SFFA. I
understand that this concern is based on the fact that there are many people who are
hostile to SFFA and to those who support its mission.
8.

Numerous articles, Internet blog posts, and social media campaigns have

described SFFA as a racist, manipulative organization. For example, one website has
characterized this lawsuit as an “example of the Asian American racial identity being
exploited by mainstream politics to serve as a wedge for the purposes of advancing a
conservative agenda: one that seeks to reinforce anti-Blackness and to marginalize people
of

colour

through

selective

perpetuation

of

the

Model

Minority

Myth.”

“#IAmNotYourWedge: Lawsuits Against Harvard & UNC Assert Anti-Asian

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Discrimination

in

Admissions,”

Reappropriate.com

(Nov.

19,

2014),

http://goo.gl/tvGsDX.
9.

Potential and current members have also expressed concerns to me that

Harvard could retaliate against them by denying admission to them or to their family
members if Harvard knew that they support SFFA.
10.

I have explained to supporters of SFFA that the membership list is not

available to the public or media and that we value members’ confidentiality. This
confidentiality policy is posted on SFFA’s website because I know that anonymity is
important to many members and prospective members. Many SFFA members have told
me that they joined SFFA based on the understanding that their identity and involvement
would remain confidential.
11.

I have given five speeches to Asian-American groups during the last 18

months in New York, New Jersey, Northern and Southern California, and Houston. I
estimate that over one thousand people have attended these talks. The most common
questions I have been asked concern the anonymity of SFFA members and the fear of
retribution if individuals are identified as members. Many SFFA members are first- and
second-generation Asian Americans, who are particularly sensitive to such exposure and
potential retribution in light of their experiences in their countries of origin.
12.

Based on my experiences interacting with prospective and current SFFA

members, I believe that fewer people would join SFFA if it were known that SFFA might
be compelled by court order to disclose its members’ identities. It is also likely that many
current members would limit their participation or withdraw their membership entirely
under such circumstances.

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13.

I have tried to explain to people raising these concerns that there is a Court

order in place that is intended to protect certain confidential information disclosed in the
litigation from being revealed to the public. Not everyone understands the distinction
between disclosure pursuant to the protective order and public disclosure. And because I
cannot guarantee that their identities will never become public as part of the case, the
existence of a protective order has not been sufficient to fully resolve their concerns.
14.

I have interacted with SFFA members who have expressed interest in

participating as standing members for purposes of this litigation. Several parents and
students have told me that they would like to be involved as standing members because
they believe that Harvard’s admissions process is unfair, but they are uncomfortable
doing so because of fear that their identities could be disclosed and that they could suffer
retaliation by Harvard and hostility from the public.
15.

Some members of SFFA have expressed fear that if they were to volunteer

as standing members, then Harvard would retaliate against them or their family members
by denying them admission, either to the undergraduate program or possibly later to
graduate school.
16.

Some members have also expressed fear that they would become subject to

hostility, such as the treatment experienced by Abigail Fisher, the lead plaintiff in Fisher
v. University of Texas at Austin, No. 08-CV-263 (W.D. Tex.).
17.

In my capacity as President and a Board Member of SFFA, I have had

discussions with SFFA’s board members regarding matters relating to SFFA, such as
strategy, fundraising, and operations. If these confidential communications were subject
to disclosure, it would discourage openness and hinder our ability to communicate freely.

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18.

Similarly, if communications with SFFA members, potential members, and

donors had to be disclosed in litigation—even if only to Harvard’s lawyers—then I think
that most people involved with SFFA, including myself, would be less willing to have
candid and personal communications about issues that are central to SFFA’s mission and
operations.
19.

Disclosure of internal communications would impede SFFA’s ability to

function because it would be difficult for individuals to communicate freely knowing that
their discussions might later scrutinized by people outside of SFFA, including Harvard
and its lawyers.
20.

Disclosure of information about SFFA’s donors would also threaten

SFFA’s ability to raise funds. In addition to membership dues, SFFA receives financial
contributions from hundreds of outside donors. Some of these donors are willing to
contribute to SFFA on the condition that they will remain confidential due to concerns
about negative publicity or other consequences if their identities and contributions were
publicized.
21.

I fear that the disclosure of information concerning SFFA’s donors to

Harvard would cause some of them to withdraw their contributions and discourage other
potential donors from making contributions, which could endanger SFFA’s survival or
force SFFA to cut back its activities.
22.

I have also suffered immense personal hostility as a result of my

involvement with SFFA and my advocacy efforts generally. I routinely receive hate mail
and threats. I frequently receive vile text messages. Those messages have called me a
“racist bigot” and an “asshole,” and they have maligned my Jewish heritage in derogatory

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