U.S. DROPS LAWSUIT OVER YALE'S ADMISSIONS RULES

The U.S. Department of Justice dropped its lawsuit accusing Yale University of discriminating against Asian and white applicants in undergraduate admissions, as the debate over affirmative action in higher education heads for a possible showdown at the Supreme Court. Wednesday's voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit, which had been brought by the Trump administration, followed a Nov. 12 decision by a federal appeals court that Harvard University's use of race in undergraduate admissions complied with federal civil rights law. In a letter to Yale's lawyer, Gregory Friel, deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, said the Justice Department dropped the Yale case “in light of all available facts, circumstances, and legal developments,” including the Harvard case. He said the department will review the matter through its administrative process. Yale had been accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act with policies that left Asian-Americans and whites one-eighth to one-fourth as likely to win admission as comparable Blacks.