Harvard is already under scrutiny and is expected to go on trial next month.
New York: Yale University is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for discriminating against Asian-American applicants, President Peter Salovey said in a statement Wednesday.
The Justice Department is already probing the admissions policies at Harvard University, which is also accused in a civil lawsuit of bias against Asian-American applicants. That case is scheduled to go to trial in Boston on Oct. 15.
“I write now to state unequivocally that Yale does not discriminate in admissions against Asian Americans or any other racial or ethnic group, to share information about our undergraduate admissions practices, and to affirm our unwavering commitment to diversity as a pillar of this university,” Salovey said in an email message to the Yale community.
The development signals that the Justice Department has expanded its scrutiny of admissions practices at other elite universities. A spokeswoman, Kelly Laco, declined to confirm the investigation, saying only that it “takes extremely seriously any potential violation of an individual’s constitutional rights.” The Yale probe was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
Over the last 15 years, the number of Asian Americans in Yale’s freshman class has grown from less than 14 percent to 21.7 percent of the class of 2022, Salovey said. Asian Americans make up the second-largest group of students in the freshman class of almost 1,600, after white students at 53 percent, according to school data.
Only 6.3 percent of the 35,308 students who applied for seats in the class won admission.
Brown, Dartmouth
A group called the Asian American Coalition for Education says on its website that it complained to the Justice Department in 2016 about admissions practices at Yale, Brown and Dartmouth universities. Emails and phone calls to Brown and Dartmouth weren’t immediately returned.
Yale, Harvard and other schools defend their admissions practices, saying they consider more than just test scores in weighing applicants.
“Yale College could fill its entire entering class several times over with applicants who reach the 99th percentile in standardized testing and who have perfect high school grade point averages, but we do not base admission on such numbers alone,” Salovey said.
“We take into consideration a multitude of factors, including their academic achievement, interests, demonstrated leadership, background, success in taking maximum advantage of their secondary school and community resources, and the likelihood that they will contribute to the Yale community and the world,” he added.
The Trump administration has previously backed the claims by the plaintiffs in the civil suit against Harvard. That case was launched by anti-affirmative action advocate Edward Blum. – Bloomberg