what does it mean?

[victor su]

Admission has nothing to do with being an athlete, or a child of an alumnus, or having an influential sponsor, or being a member of a particularly aggrieved ethnic group—criteria that are increasingly important at America's elite colleges.

What does the underlined mean? Does it mean the student come from a family belong to an aggreived ethnic group?

Thank you!

 

[5jj]

Yes. You can hardly be, for example, black, unless at least one of your parents is.

 

[JohnParis]

Yes - 5jj has it right.

It means that the institution does not admit students based solely on whether they are an athlete, a child of an alumnus, if they have an influential sponsor, or if they are a member of an aggrieved ethnic group.
Victor Su, may I ask you the origin of this sentence? Where did it come from?
Thanks in advance,
John

 

[victor su]

Yes - 5jj has it right.

It means that the institution does not admit students based solely on whether they are an athlete, a child of an alumnus, if they have an influential sponsor, or if they are a member of an aggrieved ethnic group.
Victor Su, may I ask you the origin of this sentence? Where did it come from?
Thanks in advance,
John

Hi John and othersl. thank you for your answers. It comes from a passage talking about the admission of a special honor program in a university, which I was trying to translate.

Sorry I did not state my question more clearly.

I am not sure about the meaning of "being a member of a particularly aggrieved ethnic group". Can he be a rich boy who joins some kind of unique club, then becomes a "member of ...." , or should he come from a family which belongs to be a family of the aggrieved ethnic group?

Thanks.
Victor

Here are more original sentences:

A primary draw at CUNY is a programme for particularly clever students, launched in 2001. Some 1,100 of the 60,000 students at CUNY's five top schools receive a rare thing in the costly world of American colleges: free education. Those accepted by CUNY's honours programme pay no tuition fees; instead they receive a stipend of $7,500 (to help with general expenses) and a laptop computer. Applications for early admissions into next year's programme are up 70%.

Admission has nothing to do with being an athlete, or a child of an alumnus, or having an influential sponsor, or being a member of a particularly aggrieved ethnic group—criteria that are increasingly important at America's elite colleges. Most of the students who apply to the honours programme come from relatively poor families, many of them immigrant ones. All that CUNY demands is that these students be diligent and clever.

 

[JohnParis]

Dear Victor,
I'm glad that we were able to answer your question and I would like to thank you very much for the additional information. It does not surprise me that the sentence comes from literature of CUNY.
The City University of New York came into existence in 1961, and from its very beginning it has been a university with a different perspective on many, many things. It has sought to differentiate itself from New York University (also located in the city of New York) whenever possible. The rivalry between the two schools is palpable.
I am surprised that the CUNY admissions department would use an adjective such as "aggrieved" and an adverb such as "particularly" in this sentence. They could just as easily have gotten their point across by simply saying "or being a member of an ethnic group." Better yet, had they used the word "minorities" they could have covered a lot more people. However, the phrase that follows ("criteria that are increasingly important at America's elite colleges") seems aimed at the perceived practices of other universities. Gee - I wonder which one? They are often quite silly, these rivalries between schools. But it should not be forgotten that these institutions are seeking excellent students just as large corporations seek new, reliable clients. They both need both to stay alive.
Thanks again,
John

 

[victor su]

Dear Victor,
I'm glad that we were able to answer your question and I would like to thank you very much for the additional information. It does not surprise me that the sentence comes from literature of CUNY.
The City University of New York came into existence in 1961, and from its very beginning it has been a university with a different perspective on many, many things. It has sought to differentiate itself from New York University (also located in the city of New York) whenever possible. The rivalry between the two schools is palpable.
I am surprised that the CUNY admissions department would use an adjective such as "aggrieved" and an adverb such as "particularly" in this sentence. They could just as easily have gotten their point across by simply saying "or being a member of an ethnic group." Better yet, had they used the word "minorities" they could have covered a lot more people. However, the phrase that follows ("criteria that are increasingly important at America's elite colleges") seems aimed at the perceived practices of other universities. Gee - I wonder which one? They are often quite silly, these rivalries between schools. But it should not be forgotten that these institutions are seeking excellent students just as large corporations seek new, reliable clients. They both need both to stay alive.
Thanks again,
John

Hi, just came back from my break. Thank you for your message, it helps a lot.