Isn't this a pretty well known thing?

I suppose it's approximately as "obvious" as the phenomenon that's actually being litigated, that Asian Americans have to somehow be "extra qualified." By that I mean that both are taken as given regardless of actual truth.

The "dean's interest list" mentioned in the article is interesting. Specifically, I'm surprised that it's as secret as it is. I don't think any highly selective process run by humans doesn't have a backdoor like that, to the extent that when you're applying for things like schools, jobs, incubators, etc. it's just sort of assumed that one must figure out how to get in via the backdoor.