S.F. Schools’ Affirmative Action Upheld

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of Chinese American students and their parents--who complained that they had to meet stricter admissions standards to get into an elite school--has lost its bid to end race-based admissions at San Francisco public schools.

A federal judge rejected their request to terminate the district’s affirmative action admissions policy, which was approved by court order in 1983.

The order, issued to settle a lawsuit by African Americans and Latinos, requires racial diversity at every school. It limits the representation of any group to 45% at any school, and 40% at certain schools including prestigious Lowell High, which has an entrance examination.

That means Chinese Americans, now the largest ethnic group in the schools, must score higher on the Lowell entrance exam than other groups to gain admission.

The lawsuit contends that the policy keeps Chinese American applicants from the district’s better schools, amounting to unjustifiable racial discrimination.