Because Harvard administrators think the upper echelons of society - which a Harvard education can lead someone to - should reflect the racial makeup of the broader society as a whole by default. While they must discriminate negatively against Asian Americans to achieve this goal, this discrimination is justified in their minds.

I'm not defending it, just recognizing discrimination is not an end for them but a means to what they consider a just society.

Why should it, if the input is skewed?

Suppose administrating Harward requires high economics and management skills. Only say 10% if total population has those skills and 1% is black... How do you know if the input is biased? Easy, check it. Then fix the problem at the source if possible.

What a bold and interesting claim! Do you have any evidence for it? I have a hard time believing the admissions board would take such a stance for such a petty reason

Not sure what GP was referring to, but those issues are related. If Asian-Americans were 40% of Harvard (as they should be based on merit), instead of 17% (as they are now) then that would mean fewer spaces for everyone else. In particular, it would make achieving the goal of affirmative action - proportionate representation for black and Hispanic students - much harder.

Asians are around 60% of the world population, no? So I'm not sure how a rise to 40% of Harvard inhibits "proportionate" representation.

Edit: I'm not pretending to be obtuse here - I'm actually questioning why an elite university should be representative of US demographics rather than the world.

To make it even more complicated, majority of those asian kids are either from abroad (not US citizen), or born to wealthy and/or highly educated asian families (due to selective immigration policy).

I don't know how anyone can come up with a racial quota and call it fair.

Because the vast majority of Harvard students are from the USA?

You seem to be suggesting that Harvard should represent the US because it currently does represent the US. I don't find that particularly compelling logic, but I believe the underlying assumption is also false.

Harvard has roughly 20% international students, whereas the US as a whole has about 0.6% lawful non immigrants[1].

[1]https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Nonimmi...

Colleges do have a significant amount of international students, but the high number is actually in part because they pay more for tuition - it's a good revenue source for colleges. The percentage rises and falls over time for related reasons.

The percentage also rises with higher degrees - people often finish their undergrad in their home country, then go to the US for their graduate degree. But undergrads are the bulk of college student bodies.

So overall, most college students in the US are from the US.