Google wished him, however 16 elite US schools didn’t—Teen prodigy’s household fights towards racial bias

A California household is suing a number of universities, alleging racial bias after their son, Stanley Zhong, was rejected by 16 high colleges regardless of a 1590 SAT, 4.42 GPA, and a PhD-level Google job provide.

Rejected regardless of distinctive {qualifications}

Based on The New York Submit, Stanley Zhong, a Palo Alto teenager with a formidable educational {and professional} background, was rejected by 16 of the 18 colleges he utilized to in 2023.

Zhong managed his personal startup, Rabbit-Signal, whereas in highschool and acquired a job provide from Google for a PhD-level place.

Regardless of his accomplishments, he was denied admission to high colleges like MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. His solely acceptances got here from the College of Texas at Austin and the College of Maryland.

His father, Nan Zhong, was shocked. “I did hear that Asians appear to be going through a better bar relating to faculty admissions, however I believed possibly it’s an city legend,” he advised The Submit. “However then when the rejections rolled in a single after one other, I used to be dumbfounded.”

A authorized battle towards high universities

The Supreme Courtroom struck down affirmative motion in faculty admissions in June 2023, ruling that race-based insurance policies unfairly deprived Asian American candidates. Nonetheless, since Stanley utilized earlier than the ruling, his household determined to take authorized motion towards universities that had already banned race-based admissions.

The Zhongs have filed lawsuits towards the College of California system, the College of Washington, and the College of Michigan, claiming these colleges engaged in “racially discriminatory admissions practices that drawback extremely certified Asian-American candidates,” in response to information oulet.

The lawsuit highlights the distinction between Stanley’s rejection from high universities and his hiring at Google for a job usually requiring a PhD. “[Stanley’s admissions] outcomes stand in stark distinction to his receipt of a full-time job provide from Google for a place requiring a PhD diploma or equal sensible expertise,” the lawsuit claims, as per the information report. “Stanley’s expertise is emblematic of a broader sample of racial discrimination towards extremely certified Asian-American candidates at UC,” the lawsuit alleges.

The household is looking for compensatory and punitive damages and extra authorized reduction. “There’s nothing extra un-American than this,” Nan mentioned of the alleged discrimination. “I don’t actually suppose [these schools] give a rattling in regards to the injury they’re doing to those children.”

A struggle for the following era

Nan Zhong, an immigrant from China and a software program engineer, says he’s preventing not just for his son however for different Asian American college students, together with his youthful son, who’s 16.

“My different son is a part of the rationale we’re preventing this battle,” he advised the information publication. “We’re doing this for different Asian children, together with my youthful child and my future grandkids.”

The household has struggled to search out authorized illustration, with Nan claiming that legal professionals leaning on the left refused to take the case, whereas right-leaning legal professionals believed courts in states like California could be too biased. Consequently, he’s representing the household himself, utilizing synthetic intelligence to assist define authorized complaints.

Stanley strikes on with Google profession

Following the school rejections, Stanley accepted Google’s job provide and has been working as a full-time software program engineer since October. The New York Submit experiences that Google first tried to recruit him when he was simply 13, assuming his superior on-line coding was the work of an grownup.

Whereas he has not dominated out attending faculty sooner or later, Stanley has stepped again from media consideration on account of on-line backlash over the lawsuits. His father, nonetheless, stays undeterred.

“We haven’t seen extra instances like Stanley’s as a result of the type of open hostility in the direction of Asian college students standing up for his or her rights is unbelievable,” Nan mentioned.

He continues to hunt further plaintiffs and college whistleblowers to strengthen his case. “This actually damages their psychological well being, creating a way of helplessness and hopelessness,” he mentioned. “Should you take a look at Stanley’s case as a reference level, even in case you’re pretty much as good as any person with a PhD diploma, you continue to may not even get undergraduate admissions.”