Asian-American Groups File Discrimination Complaint Against Harvard University

A discrimination complaint filed by an Asian-American coalition of 64 groups submitted on Friday alleges Harvard University discriminates against them. The complaint accuses the world famous Ivy League institution of racial profiling in its admissions policies.

Harvard-wider

Students For Fair?Admissions argued that the University gave preference to other races and filed their grievance in a federal lawsuit six months ago. The group claims the University is engaging in discriminatory practices that violate the student’s civil rights and the 14th amendment.

The complaint states that Harvard admissions policies violate the Supreme Courts 2013 ruling on strict scrutiny standards that say college admissions departments should be conducted on race-neutral grounds and to end race-based affirmative action policies.

According to the complaint, filed with the U.S. Education Department Office for Civil Rights on Friday the university has set quotas that keep the Asian-American students admissions lower than the quality of their applications merit.

The group cites an independent academic research study on SAT scores that indicate Asian-American students on average score 140 points higher than white students, 270 points greater than Hispanic students, and 450 points higher than African-American students.

The 64 Asian American organizations are seeking a federal investigation into the merits and are petitioning Harvard to stop using stereotypes, racial bias, and other forms of discrimination in evaluating Asian American applicants.

In rebuttal, Harvard’s general counsel, Robert Iuliano, asserted that the Ivy League school was in full compliance with the law. The University claims it takes into account a variety of factors in its admission process, including extracurricular and leadership qualities and not just SAT scores.

?Within its holistic admissions process, and as part of its effort to build a diverse class, Harvard College has demonstrated a strong record of recruiting and admitting Asian American students,?
[Robert Iuliano Harvard General Counsel]

The complaint went on to point out that schools who use “race-neutral admissions,” have a greater number of Asian American students than Harvard. California-Berkeley was given as an example where about 40% of undergraduates are Asian America, which doubles Harvard.

Project On Fair Representation legal counsel for the Asian American groups in this federal lawsuit case stated that Harvard’s remarkably stable admission and enrollment figures over time are the deliberate results of system-wide discrimination designed to acheive a predetermined racial balance of its student body.