On November 17, 2014, Students for Fair Admissions Inc. filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts under The Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §2000d against Harvard College. Plaintiff, represented by private counsel, asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief to prohibit the consideration of race in college admissions, claiming that Harvard's current admissions policy discriminated against Asian American applicants.

Specifically, Plaintiff claimed that Harvard's current admissions policy holds Asian American students to a higher standard based on their race, that Harvard is engaged in a prohibited form of racial balancing, that Harvard is not limiting its consideration of an applicant's race to "merely a plus factor," and that a racially neutral alternative is available to achieve the same goals of diversity.

As evidence of this, Plaintiff points to admissions data that shows a disparity between acceptance for Asian American students at Harvard and at other schools, for example, the University of California, who do not employ racial considerations in their admissions process. Additionally, Plaintiff points to the steady rate of acceptance of Asian American students despite the change in application rates and qualifications for those applicants. According to Plaintiff, this is evidence of a policy indistinguishable from racially based quotas for admissions. Plaintiff also points to a long history of admissions discrimination at Harvard as evidence suggesting the current policy may have similar aims.

As of February 3rd, 2015, the suit is ongoing.

Patrick Branson - 02/03/2015


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