[Film Screening + Panel] Admissions Granted

In the landmark Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) vs. Harvard US Supreme Court case, fears of anti-Asian American discrimination in college admissions were used to make the case against affirmative action. When the court ruled in favor of SFFA in 2023, it barred the consideration of race in college admissions. Admissions Granted explores the complex issues around Asian Americans, college admissions, and affirmative action. Join a special screening and post-screening discussion with the film's co-directors Miao Wang and Hao Wu; Tufts Dean of Undergraduate Admissions JT Duck; and Tufts undergraduate Anevay Ybanez (Sociology and Film & Media Studies). The conversation will be moderated by Tufts Professor of Sociology, Natasha Warikoo. Pizza provided.

This event is cosponsored by Tufts University's Film & Media Studies; the Center for Humanities at Tufts; Tufts Admissions; the Asian American Center; the Political Science Department; the Sociology Department; the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora (RCD); the AS&E Diversity Fund, the Education Department's DEIJ Committee and Tisch College.

ABOUT ADMISSIONS GRANTED

In June 2023, the 6-3 conservative majority at the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education in the landmark Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. HARVARD and SFFA v. UNC cases. MSNBC Films' revisits the district court trial of the case and tracks the case’s emotional, high-stakes journey to the Supreme Court. It documents how Edward Blum and activists on both sides strategize and hustle to win in court and in public opinion, and highlights the ways the case has divided the Asian American community. Woven throughout are incisive observations from The New Yorker’s Jeannie Suk Gersen, former Harvard president Neil L. Rudenstine, former Dean of Howard University (now Mount Holyoke College president) Danielle Holley, and Tufts Sociology professor Natasha Warikoo, who dig deeper into why the heated debate of affirmative action sits at the intersection of American beliefs.

Combining interviews, news archive, and verité footage with dynamic animated sequences that bring the closed-door court hearings to life, Admissions Granted takes an honest and thoughtful look at the complexity of the affirmative action debate, the divisions within the Asian American community and our nation’s increasing polarization on matters of race, equity, and inclusion.

Host or Publisher Tisch College