Haunted by Negative Action: Asian Americans, Admissions, and Race in the “Color-Blind Era” byOiyanA.Poon Inthe1980s,theUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles(UCLA),andthe University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), were found to be discriminating againstAsianAmericansintheiradmissionsprocess. 1 Althoughthefactsofthe caseshowedthatquotasagainstAsianAmericanapplicantsfavoredWhiteappli- cants, conservatives manipulated the facts in the case to shift the debate over affirmative action in favor of their anti-affirmative action agenda (Robles 2006; Takagi 1993). They argued that affirmative action was detrimental toAsian AmericansandunfairlyfavoredAfricanAmericansandLatinos(Kim1999). However, the truth was that the two campuses were practicing “negative action.” JerryKang(1996,3)states,“negativeactionagainstAsianAmericansisinforceif auniversitydeniesadmissiontoanAsianAmericanwhowouldhavebeenadmit- tedhadthatpersonbeenWhite.” On4February2009,theUniversityofCalifornia(UC)BoardofRegentsunani- mouslyapprovedanewUCeligibilitypolicytobegininthefallof2012;atthe eleventhhourbeforetheregents’vote,AsianAmericanvoicesfromthepolitical left raised concerns about the policy (Jaschik 2009). With the quota controversy fromthe1980sstillhauntingtheAsianAmericancommunity,politicalleaders werewaryoftheperceivedsignificantincreaseofWhitesattheUCattheexpense ofAsianAmericans,withmarginalgainsbyotherstudentsofcolor—anegative actionpolicyimpact.Somereportsaboutthenewpolicy,however,havebeeninac- 81 OiyanA.PoonisaPh.D.candidateineducationattheUniversityofCalifornia,Los Angeles.In2007,Ms.PoonwaselectedpresidentoftheUCStudentAssociation(UCSA), whichadvocatesonbehalfoftheinterestsofallstudentsintheuniversityforequity,access, andaffordability.InJuly2007,representingUCSAattheUCRegentsmeeting,Ms.Poon lobbied the regents to reform its undergraduate admissions eligibility criteria. Her admis- sions policy experience includes serving as a comprehensive review admissions reader at the University of California, Davis. Her research interests include race-conscious policies and Asian Americans, critical literacy development, and Asian American education.