Jonathan Zimmerman: Colleges Resist Asian Americans' Success

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University and lives in Narberth. He is the author of "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory" (Yale University Press).

In 1966, the American Jewish Committee reported that less than 1 percent of American college and university presidents were Jewish. Since the end of World War II, about 1,000 presidencies had been filled, and only one - that's right, one - went to a Jew.

It wasn't for want of good candidates. Most institutions had removed long-standing quotas on Jews, who made up 10 to 12 percent of American college students and faculty. But when it came to choosing leaders, the committee concluded, "bias is at work."

It still is. Today, however, it has a different target: Asian Americans. Like Jews in the 1960s, they hold just 1 percent of higher-education presidencies. Dartmouth's Jim Yong Kim is the only Asian American who has ever led an Ivy League institution. And President Obama recently nominated him to head the World Bank.

But Asian Americans also continue to face a form of discrimination in university admissions. And until we change that, we probably won't get more Asian American college leaders, either....