News that the Department of Justice has threatened to sue Harvard University if it fails to turn over applicant records, has raised new concerns about the future of affirmative action.
It appears that the Department of Justice is persisting in its Title VI investigation of affirmative action practices at the Ivy League institution.
“The Sessions Justice Department’s investigation into Harvard raises many flags,” said Vanita Gupta, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Previously, she served as the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice during the Obama administration.
Gupta said that the Justice Department has typically participated in affirmative action cases only as a “friend of the court” rather than as a direct party. This investigation, she added, indicates a different agenda.
“The attorney general seems to be on the hunt for a case to bring a significant challenge to affirmative action, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has continuously upheld the lawfulness of race conscious admissions in higher education,” Gupta said.
The Justice Department’s investigation is in response to a complaint filed in 2015 by a coalition of Asian-American associations that allege that Asian-American students have been discriminated against by race-based admissions policies.
Over 60 associations jointly filed the complaint using evidence compiled by Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., a nonprofit advocating for race to not be considered in assessing applicants. The complaint alleges that Harvard has illegally used stereotypes and quotas to disadvantage Asian-Americans in the admissions process.
