The U.S. Department of Justice has indicated its strongest support to date for the plaintiffs in a controversial, highly publicized federal lawsuit alleging that Harvard University unfairly discriminates against Asian-American applicants, according to CNN and other reports.
On Thursday, the DOJ submitted a statement of interest to the court in opposition to Harvard’s motion for a summary judgment, arguing that the university “has failed to demonstrate that its use of race is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest” and that “the record contains substantial evidence that Harvard is determined to continue its use of race indefinitely despite available race-neutral alternatives.”
“The record evidence demonstrates that Harvard’s race-based admissions process significantly disadvantages Asian-American applicants compared to applicants of other racial groups – including both White applicants and applicants from other racial minority groups,” the statement said in part.
“The evidence, moreover, shows that Harvard provides no meaningful criteria to cabin its use of race; uses a vague ‘personal rating’ that harms Asian-American applicants’ chances for admission and may be infected with racial bias; engages in unlawful racial balancing; and has never seriously considered race-neutral alternatives in its more than 45 years of using race to make admissions decisions.”
The case is scheduled for trial in Boston in October.
The university denies capping the number of Asian-American students. Admissions officials at the Ivy League school say they consider all aspects of applicants’ backgrounds and their ability to contribute to the academic setting.
Harvard issued a statement saying it is “deeply disappointed” with the Justice Department for siding with a group that is “recycling the same misleading and hollow arguments. Harvard does not discriminate against applicants from any group, and will continue to vigorously defend the legal right of every college and university to consider race as one factor among many in college admissions, which the Supreme Court has consistently upheld for more than 40 years.”
