US Justice Department threatens to sue Harvard University over admissions policies
The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue Harvard University
to force it to turn over documents as it investigates whether the Ivy
League school’s admission policies violate civil rights laws.
Citing a 2015 lawsuit that charges the school’s affirmative action
policies discriminate against Asian-American applicants, the federal
government in a letter set a Dec. 1 deadline for Harvard to hand over
documents on its admission policies.
The Justice Department is probing the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based
school’s compliance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,
according to the letter, dated Friday and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The measure prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from
discriminating based on race, color or national origin.
“The Department is left with no choice but to conclude that Harvard
is out of compliance with its Title VI access obligations. Title VI does
not allow entities under investigation to dictate what information
qualifies as relevant” the letter reads.
The school said earlier this year that just over half of the freshmen
admitted in 2017 were women, more than one in five was Asian and almost
15 percent African-American.
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