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A lawsuit was filed in US court on Monday honolulu Challenges the admissions policy of a wealthy and prestigious private school that gives preference to native-born applicants Airport,
A prominent opponent of affirmative action launched a campaign last month to test the legality of the policy and prevent Kamehameha schools from favoring Hawaiians. It is part of a movement to expand the legal definition of racial discrimination in education, which came after a Supreme Court The ruling against affirmative action in college admissions has been reinforced trump The administration’s war against diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Now, they are targeting scholarships, academic programs, and admissions policies that are directly or indirectly linked to race.
The lawsuit was expected after Students for Fair Admissions, led by Edward Blum, a leading opponent of affirmative action, set up a website that posed the question, “Is your child banned from Kamehameha schools based on ancestry?”
The lawsuit does not include any named or anonymous plaintiffs other than Students for Fair Admissions. But the complaint says the group has members who are “hurt by Kamehameha’s discrimination” and members who are “willing and able” to apply to the private school system, whose endowment is valued at more than $15 billion.
A Kamehameha spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The trustees previously said they believed the policy was consistent with established law.
Kamehameha Schools was founded by a bequest from Bernice Pauahi Bishop, great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I. When he died in 1884, his will directed the establishment of schools that gave priority to Native Hawaiians.
According to the Kamehameha website, each year, depending on campus and grade, the number of applications exceeds the number of spaces by 17 to 1. Alumni and parents of current students say a Kamehameha education is highly desirable because it is affordable, provides a great education and is based on the culture of Hawaii’s indigenous people.
“Nothing about training future leaders, or preserving Hawaii’s unique culture, requires Kamehameha to prevent his students from learning alongside children of diverse ancestries – Asian, Black, hispanicOr white,” the lawsuit said.
The comments show the group behind the lawsuit doesn’t understand what it means to be Hawaiian or multiracial, said state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who is running for Congress.
He said his mother, Marilyn Stewart, is a white woman from Medford, Oregon, making her Scottish, German, French, Tahitian, and Hawaiian.
The challenge to Kamehameha schools is coming from “deaf outsiders who don’t know anything about Hawaii,” said Keohokaole, who applied for seventh grade in 1995, and applied for high school two years later, but was rejected and graduated from a Catholic boys’ school.
There is an understanding among Hawaiians that only students with Hawaiian blood will be admitted. Many see this policy as a way to address the inequalities created by American colonization and the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by a group of American business owners in 1893.
The lawsuit says that if not for the admissions policy, there are non-Hawaiian families who would apply for the following reasons: “bad experiences with local public schools,” for Kamehameha’s “high-quality programs” and its networking and career opportunities “that will benefit the daughter throughout her life.”
This is not the first time Kamehameha has had to defend his admissions policy.
More than 15,000 people canceled the policy restricting entry to Hawaiians after a 2005 panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it violated federal civil rights law. Kamehameha demanded a retrial.
The following year, the court upheld the policy. Kamehameha later settled with the family of the white student who had brought the case after being denied admission.
According to the recent lawsuit, that settlement was worth $7 million.