An Asian-American student advocacy group has accused the University of California–Berkeley of enacting racially conscious admissions policies that the group says would disadvantage Asian-American applicants, a charge the university has rejected as baseless. The standoff comes amid a lawsuit involving similar allegations against Harvard University, which many decry as a bid by conservatives to undercut access to education for underserved communities of color.
Earlier this month, the Asian American Coalition for Education advocacy group announced it had sent a letter to UC–Berkeley officials lambasting a recent speech by university chancellor Carol Christ about plans to increase the school’s Hispanic population to 25 percent of the undergraduate student body over the next decade. The letter argues that plans to boost the Hispanic student community would ultimately disadvantage Asian-American university applicants….