Michael Wang was a senior at James Logan High School, US, back in 2012. According to The New Yorker, he was confident that he could get into an Ivy¹ League university, such as Harvard or Yale. He had a high GPA, excelled at debating and co-founded a math club. He was also a talented pianist.

2012年，当时迈克尔·王是美国詹姆斯·洛根高中的一名高三学生。据《纽约客》杂志报道，他有信心足以能进入哈佛、耶鲁等常春藤联盟名校就读。他的学分绩点很高，擅长辩论，和他人共同创立了一个数学俱乐部。他还是一位有天赋的钢琴师。

However, his dream universities turned him down. His less talented classmates, who were Hispanic or African-American, got into these schools. It made him wonder if he was rejected because he was Asian.

然而，他梦想中的名校将他拒之门外，而不如他优秀的西班牙裔和非裔同学却被这些学校录取。这令他怀疑自己落榜的原因是否因为身为亚裔。

On Oct 15, a lawsuit² against Harvard brought on behalf of Asian-American students like Wang began.

10月15日，一宗代表王同学等美国亚裔学生起诉哈佛的诉讼案件正式开庭审理。

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a US non-profit organization, sued Harvard for using racial balancing in their admissions process.

美国非营利组织“学生公平录取”状告哈佛在录取过程中，使用了种族平衡的手段。

The SFFA cited a Duke University economist³ who showed that Asian-American applicants⁴ who had a 25-percent chance of getting in would have a 35-percent chance if they were white, and even better chances than that if they were black or Latino.

该组织引用了杜克大学一名经济学家的报告，该报告显示，亚裔申请者录取的几率为25%，如果他们是白人，这一几率会达到35%，而如果申请者为非裔或者拉丁裔，比率还会更高。

Harvard has denied the charge. The university says that it considers many factors when determining whether a student should be admitted, including academic performance and extracurricular activities. Harvard added that the number of Asian-Americans admitted to the school had greatly increased since 2010.

哈佛大学否认了这项控诉，称在录取学生时会考虑许多因素，如学术表现、课外活动等等。哈佛还补充道，自2010年以来，学校录取亚裔学生的数量大大增加了。

“Race alone is never the reason a student is granted admission,” William Lee, a lawyer for Harvard, told the Guardian⁵. “And race is never the reason a student is denied.”

“仅种族一项绝非是学生被录取的原因，”哈佛大学代表律师威廉·李在接受《卫报》采访时表示。“而种族也从来不是拒绝录取某个学生的原因。”

Harvard is not the only university to have been accused of discrimination against Asian-Americans. In September, the US Justice Department began to investigate whether Yale University discriminates⁶ against Asian-Americans.

哈佛并非是被控歧视亚裔的唯一一所高校。今年9月，美国司法部开始调查耶鲁大学是否存在歧视亚裔的现象。

The case has fueled a longstanding debate over affirmative action policies that allow universities to use race as a factor when considering applications. The policies traditionally benefit African-American and Latino students in an effort to offset⁷ centuries of racial discrimination, according to Time magazine.

这次的案件加剧了对于平权法案政策长久以来的讨论，该政策允许高校在评估申请者时，将种族作为考虑因素。据《时代周刊》报道，平权法案试图弥补数百年来的种族歧视，传统上有利于非裔与拉丁裔学生。

According to The New York Times, the SFFA wants the use of race in the admissions process to be ended, arguing that it causes inequality. “People should be judged on character and merit,” Harrison Chen, a student at Vanderbilt University, told the Los Angeles Times. “What does the color of your skin have to do with admissions?”

据《纽约时报》报道，“学生公平录取”组织希望高校录取过程中不再考虑种族因素，称这种做法并不公平。“评判他人应当基于他们的性格和优点，”范德堡大学学生哈里森·陈在接受《洛杉矶时报》采访时表示。“你的肤色和录取有什么关系吗？”

However, in a statement, Harvard said that dropping the race criterion would “diminish students’ opportunities to live and learn in a diverse campus environment”.

然而，哈佛在一份声明中表示，取消种族标准将会“减少学生在多元化的校园环境中生活学习的机会”。

Although the case has just begun, the eventual⁸ judgment⁹ “could influence admissions to US universities for years to come,” according to Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based TV station.

尽管此案刚刚开庭审理，但最终判决“会影响美国高校未来多年的录取情况，”卡塔尔半岛电视台如此评论道。