“Asian Americans, Affirmative Action, and the Future of Selective College Admissions”
Webinar Lecture on Monday, March 4th at 7:00 pm
DESCRIPTION OF TALK: In this talk Warikoo will review the history of affirmative action in college admissions as well as arguments made for and against it. She will discuss how and why Asian Americans became part of the Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard case that resulted in the US Supreme Court ending race-conscious admissions. She will also discuss the consequences of using “diversity” as the main way of talking about race on college campuses. Finally, she will present findings from a study of the impact of college admissions on a suburban community with a large and growing Asian American population. She will end by proposing new ways of making sense of college admissions, and meritocracy more broadly.
BIO OF SPEAKER: Natasha Warikoo is Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, at Tufts University. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Warikoo studies racial and ethnic inequality in education. Her book Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools (May 2022, University of Chicago Press), explores the growth of Asian Americans in suburban communities. In the book Is Affirmative Action Fair? The Myth of Equity in College Admissions Warikoo argues that we should rethink college admissions, and walks readers through empirical evidence suggesting the important value of affirmative action. She is also the author of The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities. Warikoo is co-chair of Scholars Strategy Network Boston, which aims to connect scholars, policymakers, and community leaders to effect change. Warikoo earned her BSc/BA in mathematics and philosophy at Brown University, and her PhD in sociology at Harvard University. She is a former high school teacher.