In Palo Alto, California, a determined father is pursuing legal action against several prestigious university systems, alleging that his son’s college rejection letters were influenced by racial bias. With no law firm willing to take on their case, he has turned to artificial intelligence as his primary ally in this legal battle.
The story, originally covered by ABC7 News in San Francisco, revolves around Stanley Zhong, a high-achieving student from Gunn High School. With an impressive 4.4 GPA and a near-perfect SAT score of 1590, Stanley found himself unexpectedly denied by 16 of the 18 colleges he applied to in 2023. Despite these setbacks, his academic prowess earned him a position as a software engineer at Google.
Now, two and a half years later, his father, Nan Zhong, remains steadfast in his belief that racial discrimination influenced Stanley’s college application outcomes. In an exclusive interview with ABC7 News anchor Kristen Sze, he shared the family’s ongoing quest for justice.
Nan Zhong proudly reported that Stanley, now 20, is thriving at Google, having achieved an outstanding impact performance rating in 2025, surpassing most of his peers. However, the sting of the college rejections still lingers.
After a year of fruitless discussions with University of California officials, Zhong reached a turning point. A UC admissions director’s email dismissed his allegations of racial discrimination, citing California law that prohibits such practices. Zhong questioned this response, emphasizing that their accusation was precisely about the alleged secret violation of this law.
“When I read that line, I was puzzled,” Zhong remarked. “They claim compliance simply because there’s a law in place, but our contention is that they are covertly contravening it. That’s when I realized that dialogue with them would lead nowhere.”
Zhong said conversations with state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom also went nowhere, prompting the family to sue the University of California, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan and Cornell University.
He said they struggled to find legal representation. “We’ve been talking to local law firms, national law firms. By my account, we probably talked to dozens of legal organizations and law firms. None of them took it,” Zhong said. With statutes of limitation approaching, he said the family decided to represent themselves.
“Of course, being somebody with no legal experience at all, we naturally turned to AI,” he said. “It turned out to be a boon that we never anticipated to be so effective.”
Zhong said they use multiple AI models simultaneously to analyze legal questions, compare answers and prevent errors. “It’s like having a team of deep lawyers, top lawyers, all working for you,” he said.
He pointed to a recent ruling in the University of Washington case, where a judge rejected the university’s motion to stay the case. Zhong said the decision underscored a challenge in bringing admissions lawsuits: students often lose legal standing once they reach their junior year of college.
“Here, Stanley has a unique advantage. He’s not going to college yet. He may go at any time,” Zhong said. “So, in some ways, he has evergreen legal standing that allows us to bring the lawsuit.”
Zhong said the broader admissions landscape has shifted since Stanley’s rejections, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling banning affirmative action in the Harvard case and increased scrutiny of elite universities. He said the family has spent significant personal funds and continues to pursue the cases because they believe the issues extend beyond their son. They have launched a nonprofit, SWORD, Students Who Oppose Racial Discrimination, to advance their cause. And they have received some financial support through GoFundMe.
“We think we have a unique advantage, and we don’t want to let that go,” he said.
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