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

Filing 471

AMICUS BRIEF filed by Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, First Generation Harvard Alumni, Fuerza Latina of Harvard, Harvard Asian American Brotherhood, Harvard Islamic Society, Harvard Japan Society, Harvard Korean Association, Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance, Harvard Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students, Harvard Phillips Brooks House Association, Harvard South Asian Association, Harvard University Muslim Alumni, Harvard Vietnamese Association, Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Women's Association, Harvard-Radcliffe Black Students Association, Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association, Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, Native American Alumni of Harvard University, Native Americans At Harvard College, Task Force on Asian and Pacific American Studies at Harvard College in Support of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 2 Declaration, # 2 Exhibit 3 Declaration, # 3 Exhibit 4 Declaration, # 4 Exhibit 5 Declaration, # 5 Exhibit 6 Declaration, # 6 Exhibit 7 Declaration, # 7 Exhibit 8 Declaration, # 8 Exhibit 9 Declaration, # 9 Exhibit 10 Declaration, # 10 Exhibit 11 Declaration, # 11 Exhibit 12 Declaration, # 12 Exhibit 13 Declaration, # 13 Exhibit 14 Declaration, # 14 Exhibit 15 Declaration, # 15 Exhibit 16 Declaration, # 16 Exhibit 17 Declaration)(Thayer, Kenneth)

EXHIBIT 9

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON DIVISION

STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC,
Plaintiff,
v.
PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF
HARVARD COLLEGE (HARVARD
CORPORATION),

Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-14176-ADB
Leave to file granted on July 31, 2018

Defendant.

DECLARATION OF FATIMA SHAHBAZ
(HARVARD SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION)
Fatima Shahbaz, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1746, declares the following:
1.

My name is Fatima Shahbaz. I am a rising sophomore at Harvard and expect to

earn my bachelor’s degree in 2021. I am writing this declaration individually and on behalf of the
Harvard South Asian Association (“SAA”) in support of race consciousness in Harvard College’s
admissions policy.
2.

I serve as co-Academic Political Chair of SAA. After consulting with SAA’s board

members, I have been given authority to submit this declaration on behalf of SAA.
3.

SAA exists to meet the political, cultural, academic, and social needs of students

who express interest in the region of South Asia and the South Asian diaspora. South Asia includes
but is not limited to the nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal,
Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

4.

SAA is honored to join this amicus brief to help build minority coalitions across

Harvard and inspire those same minority coalitions across the country.
5.

Although SAA believes that there is much that Harvard can do better in terms of

how it deals with race relations on campus, how it deals with the Asian diaspora, and how it deals
with Asian American admissions, we do not feel that an end to race-conscious admissions is the
solution.
6.

Indeed, as a part of SAA’s deliberations about whether to join this brief, SAA

surveyed its members about the issue. The overwhelming majority of SAA’s members support
Harvard’s ability to consider race as one of many factors in admissions.
7.

College is about exposing yourself to things that you weren’t exposed to before and

thereby broadening your horizons. Diversity requires you to address the unknown and grow from
that experience. Every Harvard student benefits from having a diverse student body that forces
them to reconcile their lived experience with experiences they didn’t have.
8.

Harvard’s consideration of race in admissions is also important because Harvard is

educating future leaders. Future leaders need to learn about others who are not of their same
background. It is the conversations you have with your classmates and peers that teach you to be
tolerant.
9.

Furthermore, having a welcoming community of diverse students of color is

essential to ensuring that Harvard’s students of color have an adequate support network. SAA’s
members take solace in being able to find community with others with whom they share many
commonalities. For example, many of us grew up with the same emphasis on hospitality, calling
friends’ parents “auntie” or “uncle.” SAA members have found a home in SAA, where we can

2

find comfort in having people know how to say our names the way our parents intended or in
having someone around who knows where to find the best Desi restaurants.
10.

In addition, Harvard must consider the whole person during the admissions process.

Indeed, students are products of their culture. In the same way that students have been shaped by
their upbringing and socioeconomic status from birth, your racial identity plays a role in how others
see you and thus how you perceive yourself and make your way through the world. If Harvard
were to eliminate race conscious admissions, they would be buying into this notion of a colorblind
world, but we don’t live in a colorblind world.
11.

Harvard can make its admissions process more equitable by reconsidering its legacy

admissions program, which disproportionately favors wealthy, mostly white legacy candidates, at
the expense of similarly qualified non-legacy candidates, most often including low-income
students of color. Instead of pointing out the obvious – that legacy admissions is reducing the
number of seats available for promising non-legacy candidates, Edward Blum is using Asian
Americans as a political tool in his fight to end the consideration of race in admissions.
12.

In doing so, he paints Asian Americans with a broad brush. Often, when people

think of Asian Americans, they think of solely those East Asians who have access to the best
educational opportunities. However, some Asian American communities, such as many Hmong
and Filipino students, do not enjoy the same access to educational opportunities as other groups,
like many wealthy East Asian or South Asian students. The Asian American community is a
community of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and privileges, and should not be treated as the
monolith that Blum is misrepresenting it to be.

3

13.

In addition, to reduce Asian Americans to their test scores is, quite frankly,

offensive because it supports the notion that Asian Americans are just a summation of their test
scores, instead of real individuals with personal struggles and triumphs that have shaped their lives.
14.

The solution to these challenges is more diversity, not less.

15.

SAA is proud to stand with other organizations in support of Harvard’s ability to

consider race, as one of many factors, in admissions.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed on this day, July 28, 2018
/s/ Fatima Shahbaz
Fatima Shahbaz

4