Palo Alto Father Advances Federal Lawsuit Alleging Anti-Asian Discrimination in College Admissions

A Palo Alto father has secured a partial victory in his legal battle against elite universities he accuses of systematically discriminating against Asian-American applicants, with a federal judge in Seattle allowing key claims to proceed.

Nan Zhong and his son, Stanley Zhong, filed federal civil rights lawsuits against the University of California system, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan, and Cornell University. The complaints allege the institutions engaged in racially discriminatory admissions practices that disadvantage highly qualified Asian-American students.

In a ruling issued last week, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart denied the University of Washington's motion to dismiss Stanley Zhong's Title VI claims against the university. The decision allows the case to move forward into the discovery phase, where the family can request internal documents, communications, and admissions data.

"We got an exciting ruling from the judge," Nan Zhong said. "Effectively, the judge ruled in our favor by denying the university's motion to dismiss. So this is a major development in the lawsuit. That means the judge found enough factual allegations to support our allegation."

The judge dismissed several other claims and two of the three plaintiffs in the case.

A spokesperson for the University of Washington Board of Regents said the university was pleased with aspects of the ruling.

"Admission to the Allen School is highly competitive and the vast majority of out-of-state applicants are not admitted because, as Washington's flagship university, we prioritize Washington residents for admission," the statement read.

Stanley Zhong, now 21, emerged as a focal point for the family's legal crusade after experiencing what his father describes as inexplicable rejections from the nation's most prestigious institutions. A 2023 graduate of Gunn High School in Palo Alto, Stanley applied to 18 colleges and was rejected by 16 of them—including top-tier public and private universities—despite an academic record that would seem to guarantee admission nearly anywhere.

His credentials were exceptional: a 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT, placing him in the 99th percentile; a 4.42 weighted grade-point average; a class rank in the top 9 percent; and the launch of a free e-signing startup that received recognition from Amazon Web Services. Stanley was first noticed by Google recruiters during coding competitions when he was just 13 years old.

Despite the string of college rejections, Stanley accepted a position as a software development engineer at Google in the fall of 2023—a role his family's court filing notes typically requires a Ph.D. or equivalent practical experience. He ultimately received acceptance offers from the University of Maryland and the University of Texas at Austin but chose to pursue his career instead.

Nan Zhong said the family spent more than a year researching national admissions trends before deciding to file the lawsuits. Their investigation led them to conclude that anti-Asian bias remains a systemic problem in higher education, despite recent court precedents.

"The story is much bigger than myself, than my son, Stanley, or our family," Nan said. "First of all, I have a younger son, so I don't want him to face the same problem that his older brother faced. I think this is something important we should correct so my future grandkids won't have the same problem again."

He added that since taking their battle public, dozens of families across the country have reached out to share similar stories.

"After the story came out, we received a lot of communication from other Asian-American families telling us about their story, telling about how highly qualified Asian-American students were rejected left and right," Nan said. "So this is a large-scale issue and I think of it as an issue that's been around for a long time."

The University of California system has denied the allegations, maintaining that its admissions policies comply with state and federal laws prohibiting race-conscious decisions.

With the University of Washington case moving forward, Nan said he is eager to examine the university's internal admissions records.

"With that ruling, we can now proceed into discovery, request internal documents, internal communication, and most importantly, admissions data," he said.