Group sues Yale over race-conscious admissions and seeks cert in Harvard suit
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Students for Fair Admissions has filed a lawsuit challenging race-conscious admissions policies at Yale University less than a month after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped a bias suit that it filed against the school during the Trump administration.
The nonprofit group’s Feb. 25 suit claims that Yale discriminates against Asian American and white applicants, report the New Haven Register, Law360 and a press release. The suit alleges that Yale is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination in programs that receive federal financial assistance.
Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart told the New Haven Register in a statement that the school “has created an academically excellent and diverse student body through admissions policies that comply fully with the decisions of the Supreme Court and that do not discriminate against any racial or ethnic group.”
Students for Fair Admission filed the Yale suit on the same day that it asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of its case challenging Harvard University’s admissions practices as discriminatory, according to the press release. Law360 and the Washington Post have coverage, while How Appealing links to additional articles.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston had upheld Harvard’s use of race in admissions in November. The decision said Harvard’s use of race as a plus factor is consistent with Supreme Court precedent.
Students for Fair Admissions is asking the Supreme Court to overturn its 2003 decision Grutter v. Bollinger, which said colleges and universities have a compelling interest in a diverse student body, and they may use race as a factor in admissions.
