Feds accuse Harvard of ‘racial balancing’
WASHINGTON — In its latest push to end the use of race in college admissions, the Trump administration on Thursday accused Harvard University of “engaging in outright racial balancing” and sided with Asian-American students who allege the Ivy League school discriminated against them.
Harvard denied the bias claim and said it would defend the right to consider race as a factor in admissions.
The Justice Department weighed in on a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Students For Fair Admission, which argues that one of the world’s most prestigious universities discriminates against academically strong Asian-American applicants in favor of others who may be less qualified.
The Supreme Court permits colleges and universities to consider race in admissions decisions, but says that must be done in a narrowly tailored way to promote diversity and should be limited in time.
In Harvard’s case, Justice Department officials said, the university hasn’t explained how it uses race in admissions and has not adopted meaningful criteria to limit the use of race.
“No American should be denied admission to school because of their race,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.
“Harvard does not discriminate against applicants from any group, and will continue to vigorously defend the legal right of every college and university to consider race as one factor among many in college admissions,” the university said in a statement.
Shaun Harper, head of the Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California, said that grades and test scores alone should not be the only factors when deciding whether to admit a student.
“Is the DOJ saying that it is in favor of Harvard being 100 percent Asian-American because if we are looking just at GPAs and test scores, it could very well be that those with the absolute higher scores would be Asian-Americans,” Harper said. “Is this what the DOJ is saying it wants?”