I just wanted to point out that the assertion that “Asian Americans, Lee says, are penalized by 50 points — in other words, they had to do that much better to win admission…” is not universally agreed upon. When the US govt looked into it at P’ton, it found no evidence of that.
Selective colleges consider URM status or full pays or pianists or athletes as your second link points out, that’s a fact. But beyond that, statements like “50 points more for Asians” or whatever is not.