Asian Americans Recruited As Anti-Diversity Tools
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 26 Mar, 2025

Aligning against diversity initiatives has done nothing to advance Asian American interests.

As I was walking down Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood one day, I passed a building labeled “The Citizens Commission on Human Rights,” a cause near and dear to my heart. I excitedly grabbed one of their brochures, only for my excitement to turn to confusion upon reading the words “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death.” It turns out that this sham-organization had little to do with Human Rights and everything to do with discrediting science. I had been hoodwinked by the name. 

I recently thought of this incident when I heard about an organization called “Students Against Racial Discrimination.” It’s a group formed on the belief that Black and Hispanic students are getting an unfair leg up in the college admissions process. It’s a group formed by White and Asian students. 

As an Asian-American, I of course oppose any discriminatory practices against us. The problem is, we have set our sights on the wrong target. Blacks and Hispanics are not the ones holding us back and no matter what we call it, discriminating against one group in an effort to increase our own stature does not make us anti-discrimination.

Students Against Racial Discrimination is just one of a number of groups focused on the same mission, all with similarly misleading names such as “Students Who Oppose Racial Discrimination” and “Students for Fair Admission” (equally misleading is the word “students,” given that this seems to be driven largely by parents and bad faith actors who just want a reason to end diversity initiatives). Of course, this is nothing new. The latter group was responsible for the lawsuit that ultimately led to the end of Affirmative Action and the ability of colleges to take race into account when admitting students. But the Supreme Court victory wasn’t enough for them. Just last month, Students Against Racial Discrimination sued the University of California on similar grounds. 

Whether or not you agree with the premise that Blacks and Hispanics were getting preferential treatment over Asians prior to the 2023 Supreme Court decision, the belief that ending the practice would lead to an increase in Asian acceptance remains unproven. The New York Times recently looked at college admissions demographics before and after the Supreme Court ruling and found that “the average share of Asian students was essentially unchanged.” On the other hand, the latest acceptance numbers “represent the largest annual drop in the average share of Black or Hispanic students across these colleges since 2010.”

The Asians and Whites who sought to eradicate Affirmative Action were correct that doing so would decrease the number of Black and Hispanic students admitted. But they were mistaken in thinking that it would increase the number of Asians admitted. In other words, all they achieved was making college campuses whiter. 

Even if you fully accept the premise that Black and Hispanic students who benefit from Affirmative Action are less deserving of admission than Asians, you are making the assumption that Affirmative Action is the only unfair part of the admission process. In reality, admissions committees consider a multitude of factors that have nothing to do with race. I’m talking about athletics, legacy admissions, and ties to donors Those factors, which we seem to take little issue with, are surely to the detriment of Asian applicants, more so than Affirmative Action, I would imagine.

The United States has become a more hostile place for minorities as of late. “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” aka DEI, the practice of making schools and workplaces more diverse, is being villainized and outlawed. And it behooves us to remember that those casting scorn at anyone in this country who may fall into the category of “other” are not making a carve out for Asians. 

Anyone truly concerned about collegiate discrimination against Asians should be less focused on Black and Hispanic students, and instead paying closer attention to the Stop CCP Act, a bill in the US house that would bar Chinese students from coming to the US to study. Or the case of Yunseo Chung, a South Korean student who is suing Columbia University, alleging that she’s been threatened with detention and deportation simply for expressing her first amendment rights and speaking out in support of Palestine. We should pay attention to the following headline from the New York Times: “US Deports Migrants From Asia to Panama.” These are the real threats that we Asians face. And in not one of these cases are Black and Hispanic students the perpetrators.  

A “useful idiot” can be described as “a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda.” No matter how highly we may think of our own intelligence, when Asian-Americans partner with White people to increase White college enrollment at the expense of Black and Hispanic students, with no effect on Asian admission…it’s hard to call us anything else.