“Something’s very broken in (NY) state government where there’s open discrimination going on and nobody says anything” 

“Something’s very broken in (NY) state government where there’s open discrimination going on and nobody says anything” 

I have done multiple media hits following up on the lawsuit by the Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) together with Pacific Legal Foundation brought on behalf of an Asian-American parent and three Asian-American civic groups that include parents, challenging the NY STEP Act.

We covered the lawsuit in Asian Parents Sue NY State Over Discriminatory Student Programs, With Help From Equal Protection Project.The lawsuit made a splash with a full-page article in the NY Post:

This morning I appeared on the Jay Oliver Show,  one of the most popular talk radio shows in the NY Metro area. I’ve been on the show many times, and it’s never boring.

Here is my segment:

Transcript (auto-generated, may contain transcription errors)

Oliver (00:00):

Buried, a little bit, with all this stuff going on in the news cycle, so the past week or so, but the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Legal Insurrection Foundation filing a federal lawsuit targeting New York’s attempt to racially balance specialized enrollment in New York supplemental educational program for science and technology. It’s the STEP program, Science Technology Entry program. We’re gonna talk about it right now. Guy who’s been at the front and center is Bill Jacobson, Cornell Law Professor extraordinaire. Nice enough to give us a couple here on a Friday.

William, welcome. Happy New Year to you, if I didn’t say it already, but it’s great having you. This is very important because I go back to the, to the days of the college admission scandal, you know, regarding some of the Ivy Leagues and everything else regarding how, one goes about their business, with areas of concern. Very important stuff as far as we get into the step program here. Gimme a sense.

WAJ (01:11):

Thanks for having me. And Happy New Year to you.

So we have challenged, we being Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org), have challenged along with Pacific Legal Foundation, the New York STEP Program, Science Technology Entry Program. It’s a great program. It’s been around since the mid eighties. There’s just one very big problem with it that I’m shocked nobody’s ever brought up before, which is that it discriminates against Asian and White students in the way they have their eligibility requirements.

So this is a program for seventh to 12th graders to help them prepare to enter the science field when they get to college. And there are summer programs, and there are academic year programs all funded by the State of New York. And they take these programs at colleges, 56 colleges and universities in New York State participate. But if you are a Black, Hispanic, or Native American, you are automatically eligible to apply for this, and you’re a student.

But if you are not, meaning you’re Asian, White or maybe something else, you have to show economic hardship. And it’s a very tough test because basically if you’re above the poverty limit, yyou’re not eligible. So the very wealthy the child, the Hispanic child from a wealthy family can automatically apply. Whereas the poor, but not poverty stricken Asian or White student cannot. And we think that’s wrong. So we’ve brought suit in the Northern District of New York, in federal court on behalf of a Chinese American mother and three Chinese American organizations objecting to this law. Not seeking to end the program, but requiring the State of New York to stop discriminating after almost four decades.

Oliver (02:52):

And did we not learn anything from, uh, months ago? Bill, as far as the colleges are concerned, admissions and, and everything else. I mean, my goodness, you know, equity, diversion, inclusion and everything else. I mean, my God, it’s hard to believe here. But you know, instead of maybe utilizing the socioeconomic need for missions, there is a racial bias without question here. Listen, I believe everybody should get a chance, but it should be based on certain qualities of that particular individual, not a minority group with an automatic entry. I mean, didn’t they know that this was going to kind of create a lot of unrest?

WAJ (03:45):

Well, apparently not, because this has been going on for 39 years, and apparently nobody has objected to it.

And so these eligibility requirements are your ability to apply. They have other standards. You have to have a certain GPA, you have to have an interest in science. And those are all fine, but you can’t even apply if you are the child of Asian immigrants who are living barely above the poverty level. You can’t even apply. Forget what other standards.

This is more outrageous to me than even Harvard. It would be as if Harvard said, Asians can’t even apply here. You can’t even apply unless you are below the poverty limit level. And so it’s really terrible that they’ve created this, whatever their purpose was 40 years ago, it’s gone. It should not be in 2024. We should not have this.

And what shocks me almost more than anything is the state has these enormous bureaucracies devoted to weeding out discrimination. Why did no one say anything? Why did nobody at the Department of Education say, hey, should we really be doing this? You know, maybe we did it 40 years ago. Should we really be doing this now? Why did nobody ask about that? That’s what’s really outrageous.

Why did it take my Equal Protection Project to bring this to light and to mount a legal challenge for this, this should have been done a long time ago. Something’s very broken in state government where there’s open discrimination going on and nobody says anything.

Oliver (05:15):

You know, listen, go back to the Supreme Court. I mean, you go back, uh, Bill, what, 16, 17 years? I mean, you get pretty much stated, I mean, the way to style, I’ll kind of paraphrase a little bit here, but the way to stop discriminating the base of race is to do just that, you know, <laugh>, I mean, it is unbelievable, I mean, you stop discriminating on the basis of race. I mean, it’s cut and clear from the Supreme Court going back to I do believe ’07, I mean, the Supreme Court was very clear.

WAJ (05:52):

There’s a very easy answer to this for the State of New York: treat all 7th to 12th graders who apply equally without regard to their race or ethnicity. It’s really not that hard,

Oliver (06:05):

And it really isn’t. It really isn’t. And be straightforward as far as things of this nature, it’s unbelievable. Where do we go from here regarding this?

WAJ (06:18):

Well, we filed a complaint and the court process will work its way through. We’ve asked the court in our complaint to stop this conduct, this discriminatory conduct. At some point, it’s likely there’ll be an injunction motion and there’ll be hearings in court. We’re going to wait for the State of New York to respond and see how they justify the discriminatory provisions in this STEP act. And again, the STEP Act is a good thing, but you just can’t use it to discriminate. And that’s the issue we have.

Oliver (06:50):

Well, you’re gonna keep us pretty much in the loop as far as anything that goes on here. Listen, it’s been out there a while. Supreme Court made it very clear in 2007 based on race and discrimination. You know, this is something that’s been going on as, as Bill just stated, for 39 years. My goodness, but you cannot have this in today’s day and age with all that has been amplified, especially on the college scenarios,  from, what, seven or eight months ago. My goodness. It’s a very tough situation when you read about this, but I know you’re on it and you’ll let us know as far as what comes out of it after these filings, right?

WAJ (07:34):

We absolutely will. And if people want to follow it, they can go to EqualProtect.org, which is our website, and we’ll have updates. We have a case page for this.

Oliver (07:43):

Sounds good. Bill Jacobson, Cornell Law professor on the very important goings on regarding STEP in New York. You stay well, stay safe, William.

[Featured Image via AsAm News article about the case]

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.