Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College et al
Filing
419
DECLARATION re 417 MOTION for Summary Judgment by President and Fellows of Harvard College. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1, # 2 Exhibit 2, # 3 Exhibit 3, # 4 Exhibit 4, # 5 Exhibit 5, # 6 Exhibit 6, # 7 Exhibit 7, # 8 Exhibit 8, # 9 Exhibit 9, # 10 Exhibit 10, # 11 Exhibit 11, # 12 Exhibit 12, # 13 Exhibit 13, # 14 Exhibit 14, # 15 Exhibit 15, # 16 Exhibit 16, # 17 Exhibit 17, # 18 Exhibit 18, # 19 Exhibit 19, # 20 Exhibit 20, # 21 Exhibit 21, # 22 Exhibit 22, # 23 Exhibit 23, # 24 Exhibit 24, # 25 Exhibit 25, # 26 Exhibit 26, # 27 Exhibit 27, # 28 Exhibit 28, # 29 Exhibit 29, # 30 Exhibit 30, # 31 Exhibit 31, # 32 Exhibit 32, # 33 Exhibit 33, # 34 Exhibit 34, # 35 Exhibit 35, # 36 Exhibit 36, # 37 Exhibit 37, # 38 Exhibit 38, # 39 Exhibit 39, # 40 Exhibit 40, # 41 Exhibit 41, # 42 Exhibit 42, # 43 Exhibit 43, # 44 Exhibit 44, # 45 Exhibit 45, # 46 Exhibit 46, # 47 Exhibit 47, # 48 Exhibit 48, # 49 Exhibit 49, # 50 Exhibit 50, # 51 Exhibit 51, # 52 Exhibit 52, # 53 Exhibit 53, # 54 Exhibit 54, # 55 Exhibit 55, # 56 Exhibit 56, # 57 Exhibit 57, # 58 Exhibit 58, # 59 Exhibit 59, # 60 Exhibit 60, # 61 Exhibit 61, # 62 Exhibit 62, # 63 Exhibit 63, # 64 Exhibit 64, # 65 Exhibit 65, # 66 Exhibit 66, # 67 Exhibit 67, # 68 Exhibit 68, # 69 Exhibit 69, # 70 Exhibit 70, # 71 Exhibit 71, # 72 Exhibit 72, # 73 Exhibit 73, # 74 Exhibit 74, # 75 Exhibit 75, # 76 Exhibit 76, # 77 Exhibit 77, # 78 Exhibit 78, # 79 Exhibit 79, # 80 Exhibit 80, # 81 Exhibit 81, # 82 Exhibit 82, # 83 Exhibit 83, # 84 Exhibit 84, # 85 Exhibit 85, # 86 Exhibit 86, # 87 Exhibit 87, # 88 Exhibit 88, # 89 Exhibit 89, # 90 Exhibit 90, # 91 Exhibit 91, # 92 Exhibit 92, # 93 Exhibit 93, # 94 Exhibit 94, # 95 Exhibit 95, # 96 Exhibit 96, # 97 Exhibit 97)(Ellsworth, Felicia)
<![CDATA[
EXHIBIT 11
Page 1
1
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
2
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
3
4
STUDENTS FOR FAIR
ADMISSIONS, INC.,
5
Plaintiff,
6
CASE NO.
7
8
vs.
1:14-cv-14176-ADB
PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF
HARVARD COLLEGE (HARVARD
9
CORPORATION),
10
Defendant.
11
12
_____________________________________________________
13
14
15
16
DEPOSITION OF
17
Sacramento, California
18
May 16, 2017
19
20
21
22
Reported by:
23
Carrie Pederson
24
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MR. PARK:
2
THE WITNESS:
3
4
Objection.
Yes.
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
Q.
All right.
Other than
, without
5
giving me any names, do you know any other
6
individuals who are members of SFFA?
7
A.
Yes.
8
Q.
How many people do you know who are members
9
of SFFA?
10
A.
Is this including or excluding
11
Q.
Other than
12
A.
One.
13
Q.
Have you ever attended a meeting or a
14
Again, I'm not asking for names.
?
.
conference call of SFFA's members?
15
MR. PARK:
16
You can answer.
17
THE WITNESS:
18
Do you mean all of the members
or some?
19
Objection.
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
20
21
Q.
A meeting or conference call that was open
to all of SFFA's members.
22
A.
Not that I recall.
23
Q.
Have you ever been made aware of a meeting
24
or a conference call that was open to all of SFFA's
25
members even if you didn't yourself participate?
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A.
It's possible.
2
Q.
How would you become aware of that?
3
A.
It's possible that it was mentioned in an
4
5
email.
Q.
But when you say it's possible, do you --
6
I'm just trying to understand whether -- the nature
7
of your answer.
8
just don't know?
Do you have a memory of this or you
9
A.
I'm not sure.
10
Q.
So you don't know whether there's been an
11
advertised meeting or conference call open to all of
12
SFFA's members?
13
A.
Yeah.
14
Q.
But you didn't participate in one if it was
15
held?
16
A.
Correct.
17
Q.
Other than the regular email update --
18
I'm not sure.
strike that.
19
Other than the monthly -- every-few-month
20
email updates and talking with
21
time to time, Mr. Blum, any other involvement in
22
SFFA?
23
A.
I believe I'm involved in this lawsuit.
24
Q.
And that's because you are, again, what SFFA
25
and, from
has termed a standing member; correct?
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of SFFA?
2
A.
My understanding was yes.
3
Q.
And explain or describe to me your
4
understanding of what your voting rights are as a
5
member of SFFA.
6
7
A.
My understanding is that there exists
positions that are elected which I can't vote for.
8
Q.
What positions can you vote for?
9
A.
I'm not too clear on that.
10
Q.
Have there been any votes that have been
11
held since you've become a member of SFFA?
12
A.
I believe so.
13
Q.
How many votes do you remember?
14
A.
I don't recall exactly.
15
Q.
Do you have a general sense of how many
16
votes?
17
A.
Yes.
18
Q.
Is it more than one?
19
A.
I'm not sure.
20
Q.
There's definitely one vote that you recall?
21
A.
Yes.
22
Q.
And you don't know if there was more than
23
that?
24
A.
Yes.
25
Q.
Did you in fact participate in the one vote
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that you recall?
2
A.
Not that I recall.
3
Q.
How did you learn that a vote was being
4
held?
5
A.
It may have been by email.
6
Q.
If it wasn't by email, how else would you
7
have learned of it?
8
A.
It's possible
told me.
9
Q.
Do you have a memory as to whether you
10
learned about the vote from
11
from an email?
12
13
14
15
A.
Not too clearly.
as opposed to
If I had to guess, I would
say email.
Q.
Do you recall seeing an email advertising
the fact that a vote was going to take place?
16
A.
I believe so, yeah.
17
Q.
And you didn't participate in the vote?
18
A.
Not that I recall.
19
Q.
What type of position was being elected?
20
A.
My understanding is some sort of leadership
21
22
23
position.
Q.
And was there more than one candidate for
that leadership position?
24
A.
It's possible.
25
Q.
I'm asking if you know.
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A.
I don't know the number of candidates.
2
Q.
Do you know whether there was more than one?
3
A.
I don't know.
4
Q.
Was
5
a candidate for that
position?
6
A.
I believe so.
7
Q.
And do you know whether
8
was
ultimately elected in connection with that vote?
9
A.
My understanding is yes.
10
Q.
How did you learn that
was
11
elected as a member of -- or to whatever position he
12
was running for?
13
14
15
16
A.
It may have been by email, or he told me
directly.
Q.
Do you know which of those two things it
was?
17
A.
I'm not sure.
18
Q.
Have you ever tried to resign from SFFA?
19
A.
No.
20
Q.
How would you resign if you wanted to?
21
MR. PARK:
22
THE WITNESS:
23
24
25
Objection.
I'm not sure.
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
Q.
If you wanted to do it, what would you do to
try and effect that?
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pursue?
2
A.
Master's or Ph.D.
3
Q.
In what disciplines?
4
A.
Computer science.
5
Q.
You've been at
for three full years
6
now?
7
correct?
8
A.
Yeah.
9
Q.
Have you enjoyed your time there?
10
A.
Yeah.
11
Q.
Have you ever looked into transferring to
12
You've completed three full years of study;
another institution?
13
A.
I've considered it.
14
Q.
What have you considered in terms of
15
16
17
18
19
transferring?
A.
I've considered the possibility of
transferring to Harvard, for example.
Q.
What have you looked into in terms of
possibility of transferring to Harvard?
20
MR. PARK:
Objection.
21
You can answer.
22
THE WITNESS:
I believe as part of a
23
declaration I signed, I stated that I was ready to
24
apply for transfer to Harvard in the case that it
25
ceased its use of race in applications.
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could vote for the board of directors or to vote on
2
particular decisions.
3
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
4
5
Q.
But you didn't vote on the board of
directors; right?
6
A.
Yes.
7
Q.
Did you vote on any other particular
8
decisions?
9
A.
No.
10
Q.
And before June of 2015, you couldn't vote
11
for anything; right?
12
MR. PARK:
13
THE WITNESS:
14
15
Objection.
I'm not sure.
I never tried.
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
Q.
Why do you think having a vote for the board
16
of directors would provide you with the ability to
17
have a direct voice in decision making if you wanted
18
to have such a voice?
19
A.
I believe that being able to vote for the
20
people who steer an organization is one way to have
21
an input.
22
Q.
On what do you base that belief?
23
A.
Could you clarify your question?
24
Q.
You said you believe that being able to vote
25
for the people who steer an organization is a way to
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was that I was 17 up until September of that year,
2
2014, and then I turned 18 then, and then I -- yeah,
3
shortly -- a couple months before joining SFFA.
4
Q.
And so you were 18 when the November 2014
5
date at least, if that's the right date of your
6
membership?
7
A.
Right.
8
Q.
Anything else that you discussed with
9
Yeah.
Mr. Park during the break?
10
A.
No.
I think that's it; right?
Yeah.
11
Q.
Looking back at the Complaint, which is
12
Exhibit 8, I just want to ask you about a couple of
13
these specific paragraphs.
14
Paragraph 15 states "SFFA has at least one
15
member who applied for and was denied admission to
16
Harvard's 2014 entering class."
17
Do you have that in front of you?
18
A.
Page eight, you said?
19
Q.
Page eight, paragraph 15.
20
A.
Yes, I see that.
21
Q.
And you believe that that's you?
22
A.
Yes.
23
Q.
The next paragraph says "Applicant is Asian
24
25
American."
A.
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Q.
Is that accurate as to you?
2
A.
Yes.
3
Q.
The next paragraph says "Applicant's parents
4
are first generation immigrants to the United States
5
from China"; correct?
6
A.
Yes.
7
Q.
Is that also accurate?
8
A.
Yes.
9
MR. PARK:
10
before you answer.
11
Let her finish the question
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
12
Q.
And then paragraph 18 says "Applicant
13
graduated from high school ranked 1 out of 460
14
students by weighted and unweighted grade point
15
average."
16
Do you see that?
17
A.
Yes.
18
Q.
Were you in fact ranked first in your class
19
when you graduated from high school?
20
A.
Yes.
21
Q.
At the time you applied to Harvard, were you
22
ranked first in your class?
23
A.
I believe so.
24
Q.
Does your class assign class ranks?
25
sorry.
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I'm
Strike that.
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2
3
4
5
Did your high school assign class ranks?
A.
Yes.
It would say on the report card or
transcript.
Q.
Were there more than one valedictorians from
your high school?
6
A.
Yes.
7
Q.
How many valedictorians were there?
8
A.
Somewhere around six.
9
Q.
And does that mean that each -- strike that.
10
11
How was class rank determined for your high
school?
Do you know?
12
A.
My understanding is GPA.
13
Q.
And so there was a six-way tie for the
14
highest GPA; is that accurate?
15
A.
No.
The valedictorian was not determined by
16
rank.
17
Q.
How was valedictorian determined?
18
A.
If I remember the rules correctly, it was
19
people who had gotten straight A's throughout high
20
school and had taken -- who had met threshold on the
21
number of advanced placement classes which I think
22
was five.
23
Q.
Paragraph 19 says that "U.S. News and World
24
Report ranked applicant's high school in the top five
25
percent of all high schools in the United States."
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Is that accurate?
2
A.
I believe so.
3
Q.
Have you checked U.S. News and World Report
4
to see whether your high school is ranked in the top
5
five percent of all high schools?
6
A.
I haven't verified this myself, no.
7
Q.
And, again, what is your high school?
8
was the name of your high school?
9
A.
10
Q.
11
What
.
Paragraph 20 says "Applicant achieved a
perfect score of 36 on the ACT."
12
Stopping there, is that accurate?
13
A.
Yes.
14
Q.
Is that an overall score or an individual
15
component score?
16
A.
Overall score.
17
Q.
Next sentence states "Applicant achieved a
18
perfect score of 800 for SAT II History and a perfect
19
score of 800 or SAT II Math."
20
Are both of those numbers correct?
21
A.
Yes.
22
Q.
Then indicates "Applicant was named an AP
23
Scholar with distinction, a National Scholar and a
24
National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist."
25
Is that accurate?
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A.
Yes.
2
Q.
Were all of those scholarships -- the three
3
listed scholarships here, were those all information
4
that you had at the time you applied to Harvard?
5
MR. PARK:
6
THE WITNESS:
7
8
9
Objection.
If I remember correctly, yes.
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
Q.
The next paragraph has a sort of narrative
description of numerous extracurricular activities.
10
You can just read that to yourself.
11
Let me know if
everything in that is accurate.
12
A.
Yes.
13
Q.
Do you know how SFFA obtained this
14
information about you for purposes of including in
15
the Complaint?
16
A.
I believe it was partly provided by my
17
father, and then I gave him the information that he
18
didn't have already.
19
20
21
22
Q.
Which information did you provide to your
father that he didn't already have?
A.
May have -- if I remember correctly, it was
the transcript.
23
Q.
Was that your high school transcript?
24
A.
Yes.
25
Q.
But, again, you didn't review this Complaint
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before sitting here today?
2
A.
No.
3
Q.
Back to the summer of 2014 and the meeting
4
you described with
and Mr. Blum at a
5
hotel near your home in
6
were you asked to serve as a standing member for SFFA
7
in this litigation?
8
MR. PARK:
9
THE WITNESS:
At that meeting,
Objection.
I don't recall the exact
10
wording "standing," but I do believe that my role was
11
to be somewhat similar to what you define as
12
standing.
13
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
14
15
Q.
And was it at that meeting that it was
decided that you would serve in that role?
16
MR. PARK:
Objection.
17
THE WITNESS:
I don't know if it was decided
18
once and for all or if that was done later with the
19
lawyers, but certainly that was discussed just like a
20
strong possibility if not decided.
21
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
22
23
24
25
Q.
And what were you informed about what
playing that role would entail for you personally?
A.
My understanding is that I would not be
filing the suit personally and that I would be
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someone that SFFA sort of represents in the suit as
2
someone who has applied to Harvard.
3
4
5
Q.
What were you told about what your
involvement in the litigation would be?
A.
I understood that they would be requiring,
6
like, my application profile to Harvard, which my
7
father and I provided, and it was either there or
8
later meeting with the lawyers that I think it was
9
mentioned that my name could be released to Harvard
10
11
12
but would not be released publicly.
Q.
Were you ever told that your name might, at
some point, be released publicly?
13
A.
Yes.
14
Q.
And what were you told about that?
15
MR. PARK:
16
Just want to make sure you don't disclose
17
Objection.
anything that you were told by lawyers.
18
THE WITNESS:
19
It was discussed as a
possibility.
20
Right.
BY MS. ELLSWORTH:
21
Q.
What was the nature of that discussion?
22
A.
I think the idea was that it was not going
23
24
25
to happen in the near future.
Q.
But that it might happen at some point in
the future?
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I, the undersigned, a Certified Shorthand
2
Reporter of the State of California, do hereby
3
certify:
4
That the foregoing proceedings were taken
5
before me at the time and place herein set forth;
6
that any witnesses in the foregoing proceedings,
7
prior to testifying, were duly sworn; that a record
8
of the proceedings was made by me using machine
9
shorthand which was thereafter transcribed under my
10
direction; that the foregoing transcript is a true
11
record of the testimony given.
12
Further, that if the foregoing pertains to
13
the original transcript of a deposition in a Federal
14
Case, before completion of the proceedings, review of
15
the transcript [
16
] was [X] was not requested.
I further certify I am neither financially
17
interested in the action nor a relative or employee
18
of any attorney or party to this action.
19
20
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have this date
subscribed my name.
21
22
Dated: May 26, 2017
23
<%Signature%>
24
CARRIE PEDERSON
CSR No. 4373
25
212-279-9424
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