Harvard under fire Flashcards
strike down
IN 1978 the Supreme Court, in the Bakke case, struck down racial quotas in higher education.
to reject something; to make something no longer valid
Justice
illuminating
Summing up, Justice Lewis Powell called the undergraduate admissions policy at Harvard an “illuminating example” of a better approach.
대법관
[VERB] [FORMAL] If you illuminate something that is unclear or difficult to understand, you make it clearer by explaining it carefully or giving information about it.
plaintiff [‘pleɪntɪf]
disguise
The plaintiffs claim its admissions policy is a quota system in disguise that discriminates against Asian-Americans.
A plaintiff is a person who brings a legal case against someone in a court of law.
[NOUN] If you are in disguise, you are not wearing your usual clothes or you have altered your appearance in other ways, so that people will not recognize you.
affirmative action
hatch
bent on
dismantle [dɪs’mæntəl]
This is the latest legal challenge to affirmative action—and the first to target a private university—hatched by Edward Blum, an activist bent on dismantling Bakke.
Affirmative action is the policy of giving jobs and other opportunities to members of groups such as racial minorities or women who might not otherwise have them.
[VERB] If you hatch a plot or a scheme, you think of it and work it out.
be determined to do or have something
[VERB] To dismantle an organization or system means to cause it to stop functioning by gradually reducing its power or purpose.
the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
petition [pə’tɪʃən]
After the Supreme Court ordered the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider her case in 2013, Ms Fisher lost again last summer and is petitioning the justices for yet another hearing.
제5회 순회법정 -> 주로 항소 전문
[VERB] [FORMAL or,LEGAL] If you petition someone in authority, you make a formal request to them.
tack
In the meantime, Mr Blum is taking a bolder tack by confronting the very university the Supreme Court has cited as a model of permissible affirmative action.
[NOUN] [also no det] If you change tack or try a different tack, you try a different method for dealing with a situation.
complaint
vehicle
The complaint against Harvard comes from Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a new vehicle for Mr Blum’s campaign.
[NOUN] [oft N about n] A complaint is a statement in which you express your dissatisfaction with a particular situation. 소송건
[NOUN] [usu with supp, oft N for n] You can use vehicle to refer to something that you use in order to achieve a particular purpose.
poster-child
The SFFA has an impressive poster-child: an unnamed offspring of Chinese immigrants with perfect scores on three college admissions tests who graduated first in his (or her) class at a competitive high school, captained the tennis team and volunteered as a “fundraiser for National Public Radio”.
[NOUN] If someone is a poster child for a particular cause, characteristic, or activity, they are seen as a very good or typical example of it.
make much of
The complaint makes much of quotas against Jewish students at Harvard from the 1920s to the 1950s, but draws no direct link to discrimination against Asian-Americans now.
put a lot of emphasis on something; behave as if something is very important
reconcile [‘rekənsaɪl]
And a table in the SFFA’s own brief shows that between 2007 and 2013 Asian-American enrolment at Harvard went from 15% to 18%, an increase of a fifth that may be hard to reconcile with charges of a silent quota.
[VERB] If you reconcile two beliefs, facts, or demands that seem to be opposed or completely different, you find a way in which they can both be true or both be successful.
[NOUN] A charge is a formal accusation that someone has committed a crime.
figleaf
dissemble [dɪ’sembəl]
obfuscate [‘ɒbfʌskeɪt]
Mr Blum maintains, however, that Harvard’s admissions policy is “a figleaf to hide, dissemble and obfuscate racial balancing and quotas”.
[NOUN] [usu with supp] [disapproval, JOURNALISM] People sometimes refer disapprovingly to something which is intended to hide or prevent an embarrassing situation as a fig leaf.
[VERB] When people dissemble, they hide their real intentions or emotions.
[VERB] To obfuscate something means to deliberately make it seem confusing and difficult to understand.
selective
Although Asian-Americans made up over 27% of the applicant pool at the three most selective Ivy League colleges from 2008 to 2012, they comprised only 17-20% of the students admitted.
[ADJ] [usu v-link ADJ] When someone is selective, they choose things carefully, for example the things that they buy or do.
constitute [‘kɒnstɪtu:t]
This, the SFFA contends, constitutes “intentional discrimination” in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
[VERB] [no cont] If something constitutes a particular thing, it can be regarded as being that thing.
garden-variety
Richard Primus, a law professor at the University of Michigan, regards the complaint as “a garden-variety intentional-discrimination case” that “breaks no new legal ground” and is an unlikely candidate for Supreme Court review.
[ADJ] You can use garden-variety to describe something you think is ordinary and not special in any way.
