(Headline USA) CNN abruptly ended an interview about the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision on Thursday after the guest began pushing back on the use of race in college admissions.
The guest, Kenny Xu, is a board member for Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiffs in the case decided by the Supreme Court this week.
During his interview with CNN’s Abby Phillips, Xu insisted that the court was right to rule that “excellence,” not race, “should be prioritized” in the admissions process, reported The Blaze.
“I think that admissions should be only based on merit,” he said. “Why are we asking a university to calculate somebody’s level of diversity? I think that sets a very bad precedent for anybody trying to get into college. We should be treated on the basis of our merits. We should be treated on the basis of how hard we work, or study, our SAT scores, our grades.”
Phillips asked why admissions board should not consider “other factors” that students “bring to the table,” such as their economic background, race, and gender.
Xu, who is Asian, argued that doing so elevates immutable characteristics in a way that is discriminatory.
“We don’t want that,” he said. “We want black students to succeed. We want every student to succeed, low-income students to succeed … Lowering your standard to admit somebody of a socio-economic status or race would not help you do that. In fact, you would harm their graduation rate and excellence.”
Phillips then tried to interrupt Xu repeatedly, but Xu continued to cite statistics to support his case.
“Asians have to score 273 points higher in the SAT to have the same chance of admission as a black person,” he explained. “So, the standard is lowered for black Americans.”
Phillips finally cut Xu off and ended the segment before he could finish his sentence.
“Kenny Xu, thank you for your perspective. Really appreciate you joining us today,” she said.
