NCAPA Denounces Department of Justice Plans to Attack Higher Education Institutions

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) is outraged that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division plans to investigate and sue universities over affirmative action policies that increase campus diversity. We explicitly reject the use of Asian American  communities as a wedge to advance this effort. Further, we are deeply concerned that plans to attack equal opportunity in education run counter to the core mission of an office that is supposed to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly the most vulnerable in our society.

Last summer, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that admission policies that consider race as one of multiple factors in college admissions is constitutional. All AAPI students, especially those from low-income, refugee and first generation families, greatly benefit from these policies.

We commend colleges and universities whose efforts provide students of all backgrounds equal access to high quality education. We strongly urge the DOJ to adhere to the Supreme Court’s decision, and we call upon all Americans to support the future of our youth and protect policies that advance equal opportunity.

NCAPA members issued the following statements in response:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)

NCAPA is also a member of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations. Read the coalition’s statement.

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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 34 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.