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On November 30, 2012, amid a friendly back-and-forth about lunch plans, Hibino e-mailed Fitzsimmons an attachment that he described as “really hilarious if I do

On November 30, 2012, amid a friendly back-and-forth about lunch plans, Hibino e-mailed Fitzsimmons an attachment that he described as “really hilarious if I do say so myself!” Hibino explained, “I did it for the amusement of our team, and of course, you guys”—presumably Harvard admissions officers—“are the only others who can appreciate the humor.” The joke memo had been written on Harvard admissions-office stationery, during the earlier investigation. It was purportedly from an associate director of admissions and parodied the admissions officer downplaying an Asian American applicant’s achievements. The memo denigrated “José,” who was “the sole support of his family of 14 since his father, a Filipino farm worker, got run over by a tractor,” saying, “It can’t be that difficult on his part-time job as a senior cancer researcher.” It continued, “While he was California’s Class AAA Player of the Year,” with an offer from the Rams, “we just don’t need a 132 pound defensive lineman,” apparently referring to a slight Asian male physique. “I have to discount the Nobel Peace Prize he received. . . . After all, they gave one to Martin Luther King, too. No doubt just another example of giving preference to minorities.” The memo dismissed the fictional applicant as “just another AA CJer.” That was Harvard admissions shorthand for an Asian American applicant who intends to study biology and become a doctor, according to the trial transcript. It's pretty disgusting what you can get away with as long as you follow the right politics.

rightbyte 4y ago
> It's pretty disgusting what you can get away with as long as you follow the right politics. Do you mean the joke? I read it as criticism of the policy to do racial discrimination.
- duxup 4y ago
  I also thought it was intended as a sort of parody / criticism.
- btilly 4y ago
  If it was intended as criticism, then one would expect the joke's author, who was the regulator in charge of ensuring no racial discrimination, would have offered the much more direct criticism of taking regulatory action. The joke's author did no such thing. And was careful to make sure it never got to anyone who might be inclined to criticize Harvard's admissions practice. Furthermore the fact that Harvard admissions HAD slang like "Just another AA CJer" is pretty strong evidence of discrimination.
  - emmp 4y ago
    The author of the joke memo is himself Asian American, which is a relevant detail.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - steveBK123 4y ago
      Maybe, maybe not. Could also be read as the very real racism / discrimination of East Asians towards Southeast Asians. Especially a white collar educated East Asian vs a more recently immigrated working class Southeast Asian family. Analogy would be a white guy named Bob Smith working a fancy office job, living in Manhattan making jokes about slack jawwed Cletus the farmer from Alabama.
- vsskanth 4y ago
  I think the parent comment meant that there doesn't seem to be any cost to making jokes at the expense of Asians. A similar parody letter based on stereotypes about black people will pretty much end their career, no matter the intent.
  - mb7733 4y ago
    The joke is not at the expense of Asians, it is satirizing how Asians can be discriminated against in admissions
    - bsaul 4y ago
      Still would have been a risky move. There are examples in the past of jokes not well understood ...
      - dmix 4y ago
        The email itself said "you're the only person who would understand this sort of humor" so it's important to look at this in context. The recipient of the email was asian himself. Whether it can end careers? Sure people freely ignore context and socially burn people at the stake for much less. But IRL it's important to ask whether they were actually being racist with their satire. Which I personally think is a pretty thin argument.
        pclmulqdq 4y ago
        The author was Japanese and the subject was Filipino. There's a lot of (racial? cultural?) animus there - it's a little like a yankee making fun of a white southerner. Among Asian people, Filipino and Japanese are often considered different races.
        areyousure 4y ago
        > The recipient of the email was asian himself. The recipient was https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/22/fitzsimmons-profile-1967/ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/22/fitzsimmons-pro...
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  You're forgetting who the audience is. The audience is Harvard admissions staff. That changes the nature of the joke quite a bit in my opinion. Since it is an inside joke for only Harvard's people and their ideologically-aligned "regulators," it reads to me as more of an acknowledgement and acceptance of the practice of anit-asian discrimination, and at most a suggestion that they tone it down a bit. If this were a parody written for the daily show (for example) or something else intended for a wide audience, it would absolutely have been criticism of Harvard, but the audience really does change the joke. Personally, I think this is one of the more racist things that I have seen recently, and large swathes of both Harvard's admissions staff and the folks "investigating" them need to resign.
  - rightbyte 4y ago
    Hmm ... you might be correct. It is down to intent really.
lr4444lr 4y ago
Yes, but SFFA is almost definitely going to eventually breach this wall sooner or later, and I can bear these awfully obvious judicial biases on the margins as we advance our way toward stamping out centuries old pseudoscientific human taxonomy from our society one slow step at a time.
lumb63 4y ago
The characterization of this joke as “anti-Asian” seems very incorrect to me. It’s clearly satirizing the stereotype that Asian American typically are more accomplished and discriminated against in admissions because of it. It’s absolutely relevant to the case, but is definitely not anti-Asian. EDIT: changed “fact” to “stereotype”. Guess I’ll let the court decide the facts…
- kolbe 4y ago
  Yeah, it's anti-Harvard admissions, which is the entire point of the case, and the judge wouldn't allow it into evidence?
fumeux_fume 4y ago
And it's pretty hilarious how far over your head a joke can fly when you follow the wrong politics.
bdowling 4y ago
The real punchline is that the Harvard dean initially believed the memo was genuine, that an associate director of admissions had written it as a parody of Harvard’s own practices.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  My reading was that he initially thought the memo was a joke that was written by a real admissions officer (whose name was used on the document). The memo was so over-the-top (Nobel Prize!) that it would have been obvious that no such student had ever applied.

rightbyte 4y ago

> It's pretty disgusting what you can get away with as long as you follow the right politics. Do you mean the joke? I read it as criticism of the policy to do racial discrimination.

duxup 4y ago
I also thought it was intended as a sort of parody / criticism.
btilly 4y ago
If it was intended as criticism, then one would expect the joke's author, who was the regulator in charge of ensuring no racial discrimination, would have offered the much more direct criticism of taking regulatory action. The joke's author did no such thing. And was careful to make sure it never got to anyone who might be inclined to criticize Harvard's admissions practice. Furthermore the fact that Harvard admissions HAD slang like "Just another AA CJer" is pretty strong evidence of discrimination.
- emmp 4y ago
  The author of the joke memo is himself Asian American, which is a relevant detail.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - steveBK123 4y ago
    Maybe, maybe not. Could also be read as the very real racism / discrimination of East Asians towards Southeast Asians. Especially a white collar educated East Asian vs a more recently immigrated working class Southeast Asian family. Analogy would be a white guy named Bob Smith working a fancy office job, living in Manhattan making jokes about slack jawwed Cletus the farmer from Alabama.
vsskanth 4y ago
I think the parent comment meant that there doesn't seem to be any cost to making jokes at the expense of Asians. A similar parody letter based on stereotypes about black people will pretty much end their career, no matter the intent.
- mb7733 4y ago
  The joke is not at the expense of Asians, it is satirizing how Asians can be discriminated against in admissions
  - bsaul 4y ago
    Still would have been a risky move. There are examples in the past of jokes not well understood ...
    - dmix 4y ago
      The email itself said "you're the only person who would understand this sort of humor" so it's important to look at this in context. The recipient of the email was asian himself. Whether it can end careers? Sure people freely ignore context and socially burn people at the stake for much less. But IRL it's important to ask whether they were actually being racist with their satire. Which I personally think is a pretty thin argument.
      - pclmulqdq 4y ago
        The author was Japanese and the subject was Filipino. There's a lot of (racial? cultural?) animus there - it's a little like a yankee making fun of a white southerner. Among Asian people, Filipino and Japanese are often considered different races.
      - areyousure 4y ago
        > The recipient of the email was asian himself. The recipient was https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/22/fitzsimmons-profile-1967/ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/22/fitzsimmons-pro...
pclmulqdq 4y ago
You're forgetting who the audience is. The audience is Harvard admissions staff. That changes the nature of the joke quite a bit in my opinion. Since it is an inside joke for only Harvard's people and their ideologically-aligned "regulators," it reads to me as more of an acknowledgement and acceptance of the practice of anit-asian discrimination, and at most a suggestion that they tone it down a bit. If this were a parody written for the daily show (for example) or something else intended for a wide audience, it would absolutely have been criticism of Harvard, but the audience really does change the joke. Personally, I think this is one of the more racist things that I have seen recently, and large swathes of both Harvard's admissions staff and the folks "investigating" them need to resign.
- rightbyte 4y ago
  Hmm ... you might be correct. It is down to intent really.

lr4444lr 4y ago

Yes, but SFFA is almost definitely going to eventually breach this wall sooner or later, and I can bear these awfully obvious judicial biases on the margins as we advance our way toward stamping out centuries old pseudoscientific human taxonomy from our society one slow step at a time.

lumb63 4y ago

The characterization of this joke as “anti-Asian” seems very incorrect to me. It’s clearly satirizing the stereotype that Asian American typically are more accomplished and discriminated against in admissions because of it. It’s absolutely relevant to the case, but is definitely not anti-Asian. EDIT: changed “fact” to “stereotype”. Guess I’ll let the court decide the facts…

kolbe 4y ago
Yeah, it's anti-Harvard admissions, which is the entire point of the case, and the judge wouldn't allow it into evidence?

fumeux_fume 4y ago

And it's pretty hilarious how far over your head a joke can fly when you follow the wrong politics.

bdowling 4y ago

The real punchline is that the Harvard dean initially believed the memo was genuine, that an associate director of admissions had written it as a parody of Harvard’s own practices.

gnicholas 4y ago
My reading was that he initially thought the memo was a joke that was written by a real admissions officer (whose name was used on the document). The memo was so over-the-top (Nobel Prize!) that it would have been obvious that no such student had ever applied.