None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit claiming Harvard discriminates against Asian-Americans applicants are testifying, so their main argument in federal court is boiling down to data.
A group called Students for Fair Admissions, which says Harvard holds Asian-American applicants to higher standards than other groups, called upon Peter Arcidiacono, a economics professor at Duke University whose analysis concluded the school discriminates against Asian-American applicants.
Arcidiacono said his research found two-thirds of African-Americans and half of Hispanics were admitted due to racial considerations.
He pointed out that, in his research, Asian-Americans consistently got higher marks in academics than applicants from other races.
When Harvard rates students on academics, the lower the number, the better the rating. That means applicants who get a score of 1 or 2 tend to be some of the best students.
Arcidiacano found Asian-American applicants get the most 1 or 2 scores on academic ratings. But when it comes to the personal rating of applicants, which Arcidiacano concluded was very important to admissions at Harvard, Asian-Americans do worse. Harvard conducts what it calls a whole person review of each applicant.
He said race clearly influences how Harvard scores the personal rating of each applicant. "I believe it should not be included," Arcidiacano said.
Harvard has argued that Arcidiacano's methodology is flawed.
The school says that he ignores key factors taken into account when rating students, including their personal essays and teacher recommendations.
David Card, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, did his own analysis of Harvard's admissions process and found no discrimination against Asian-Americans.
In a statement Harvard released before today's testimony, Card said Arcidiacano's research was grounded in misunderstandings about how Harvard's process works.
"These fundamental misunderstandings explain why [Professor] Arcidiacono and I reach different conclusions, and why [Professor] Arcidiacono’s admissions model yields unreliable results," the statement said.
He also wrote that Arcidiacono's personal ratings model doesn't account for all of the factors Harvard uses when assigning those ratings.
Arcidiacono was the only witness to take the stand all day. Around 4 p.m., Burroughs asked when he would like to wrap up since Harvard will continue to question him tomorrow.
"Soon would be nice," he said in a moment of lightheartedness that broke the tension in the room.
After Arcidiacono concludes his testimony, Harvard should get a chance to call witnesses to the stand soon. They are expected to include Card to explain his admissions model, students and former Harvard president Drew Faust.
The trial is scheduled to continue into next week.