TRENTON, N.J.
The U.S. Department of Education has broadened a review into whether Princeton University discriminates against applicants of Asian descent.
The university said Tuesday that it’s providing admissions information to the Education Department as part of an investigation into whether it complies with civil-rights law.
The case stems from a federal civil-rights complaint filed in 2006 by Jian Li, a Chinese immigrant who grew up in Livingston.
Li said Princeton and other elite institutions rejected him, even though he had perfect SAT scores, was in the top 1 percent of his high school class and had earned other honors.
Li, who enrolled at Yale University but now goes to Harvard University, claimed that Princeton has set a cap on how many highly qualified Asian students it accepts, admitting less qualified applicants from other racial groups.
Earlier this year, the Education Department decided not just to look at Li’s complaint, but to conduct a general review of whether Princeton is complying with federal civil rights regulations with regard to Asian applicants, said Jim Bradshaw, a department spokesman.
