On Monday, Oct. 15, the trial on Harvard University’s racial bias opened. The lawsuit is centered around whether or not the Boston institution holds Asian American students to a higher standard than students of other races. It was initiated by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, which cites the lower admission rates for Asian Americans in comparison to other minorities.

Students for Fair Admissions claims that the university has a quota for how many Asian students that it can accept. The group also alleges that Harvard’s use of a “personal score”, or a section on more opinion-based traits such as personality, character, and promise, creates a disadvantage for Asian Americans. This is because while Asian students do, on average, score higher than students of other races in grades, test scores, and extracurriculars, they rank much lower in terms of what Harvard calls “positive personality” traits.

Harvard scores applicants on five categories: academic, extracurricular, athletic, personal, and overall. In these categories, an applicant can be ranked from one to six, where one is the best. While alumni interviewers often do give Asian Americans good scores in the “personal” category, admissions officers have had a history of not doing the same; 21.3% of Caucasian applicants earn a one or a two, whereas 17.6% of Asian American applicants earn the same score, nearly 5% less.

In addition, the suit revealed that in 2013, Harvard had conducted an internal investigation about its admissions practices and that investigators had found a bias against Asian Americans. This same internal review mentioned that if it was only academic achievement was considered in the admissions process, the percentage of Asian Americans in the class would increase by 24%. However, once including the university’s preference for athletes and familial admissions, the percentage fell once more, while the proportion of Caucasians increased. After extracurriculars and “personal ratings” were included, the percentage of Asian Americans decreased again. Yet, these findings never made it to the public eye. This system has been accused of being the main reason that the percentage of Asian Americans at the university has been kept at roughly 20% for the last couple of years.

However, an applicant’s choice in majors can also impact admissions. Harvard is seeking humanities majors, particularly those specializing in Greek and Latin. They also prefer students who are top-ranked athletes or whose parents are actively contributing alumni and donors.

While the verdict is yet to come on this trial, we cannot yet come to a conclusion on whether or not one’s race, particularly Asian American, imparts a negative effect on which students get into prestigious universities such as Harvard.