DOJ: Harvard Not Complying With Probe Into Asian Discrimination, Admissions Quotas

The U.S. Justice Department penned a letter Friday saying Harvard University has continued to stonewall a civil rights investigation of admissions policies stemming from a 2014 lawsuit alleging the Ivy League school has Asian-American restriction quotas.

The DOJ is probing the Cambridge, Mass., school’s compliance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, according to the letter first reported by Reuters Tuesday, but dated from Friday. The measure prohibits institutions receiving federal funding from discriminating based on race, skin color or national origin. The 2014 lawsuit alleges Harvard University limits the number of Asians it admits each year.

“The Department is left with no choice but to conclude that Harvard is out of compliance with its Title VI access obligations,” the letter reads. “Title VI does not allow entities under investigation to dictate what information qualifies as relevant.”

Earlier this year, Harvard admissions reported that a majority of students accepted into the incoming Fall 2017 freshman class were not white, for the second year in a row. The school also said just over half of the freshmen admitted in 2017 were women, more than one-in-five were Asian and almost 15 percent listed as African-American.

Harvard responded to the Justice Department's letter as news reports trickled out of their alleged failure to comply in the federal civil rights investigation.

“As we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice, the university will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI,” Harvard spokeswoman Anna Cowenhoven said in a statement Tuesday. “We have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of student and applicant files and other highly sensitive records, and we have been seeking to engage the Department of Justice in the best means of doing so.”

Edward Blum, of Students for Fair Admissions, told the Boston Globe he is gratified the DOJ has launched an investigation into Harvard’s admissions practice allegations.

“Harvard’s Asian quotas, and the overall racial balancing that follows, have been ignored by our federal agencies for too long,” Blum said in a statement. “This investigation is a welcome development.”