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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is investigating whether Yale University has illegally discriminated against American candidates from Asia, intensifying its efforts to challenge race-based admission policies in elite universities.
The Justice and Education Departments have begun a civil rights investigation into Yale's use of the breed as a factor in his admissions process and unfairly denied access to school for American students. 'Asia. Rights obtained by the New York Times.
Investigators look at "whether the university discriminated against the applicant and other Asian-American candidates by treating candidates differently based on race during the admission process," according to the letter sent to a student named Yukong Zhao. two years ago at the Ministry of Justice.
These claims echo a lawsuit filed by a group of American students of Asian descent who did not enter Harvard University and stated that the school had systematically discriminated against them in removing the number of Americans of Asian descent.
The Justice Department is also investigating Harvard for the way it uses the race in its admissions policies, and last month, publicly supported students pursuing school. This case should be judged by a federal court in Boston next month.
"I am writing now to unequivocally claim that Yale does not discriminate in admissions against Asian Americans or any other racial or ethnic group," Yale President Peter Salovey wrote in a message to students and teachers. "We will vigorously defend our ability to create a diverse and excellent university community."
The Justice Ministry declined to comment on the investigation. The department "takes very seriously any potential violation of an individual's constitutional rights," said Kelly Laco, a spokesperson. The education department does not comment on the continuation of investigations, said a spokeswoman.
Conservatives have long opposed positive discrimination and a handful of states have banned the use of positive discrimination policies in public universities. The Harvard and Yale investigations and lawsuits could have far-reaching consequences on college admissions policies and positive action, a tool born in the civil rights era and intended to make education and US opportunities more equitable.
If we discover that Yale treated Mr. Zhao differently during the race-based admission process, it would violate the Civil Rights Act.
Yale's investigation is based on Mr. Zhao's complaint to the Department of Justice on September 20, 2016. He is part of the Asian American Coalition for Education, a group that also accused Harvard University of Use race as an unfair rejection factor. American students of Asian origin. The group filed a case of friends in the Harvard case, accusing the school of unfair discrimination against American candidates from Asia.
In his complaint, Mr. Zhao alleged that three Ivy League schools – Yale, Brown University, and Dartmouth College – had "unfairly denied undergraduate admission to American-American candidates by treating them differently based on their race during the admission process ". Letter from the Department of Education.
The ministry dismissed the complaints against Dartmouth and Brown because, according to the press release, Zhao had not provided enough evidence of discrimination in these institutions.
The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division began investigating Yale's admission practices in April of this year, according to the letter. The Department of Education joined later.
Yale argues that his admissions process is not aimed at creating a specific racial mix of students, but rather a student body with a wide variety of ethnic, socio-economic and other contexts. The college took into account academic results, interests, leadership skills and background during the intake process.
"One of the goals of Yale's admissions process – based on decades of experience and review – is to create a vibrant and diverse academic community in which our students interact with students." people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, "said Salovey.
Salovey accused the Department of Justice of initiating the investigation as part of a broader plan to dismantle affirmative action measures. "This investigation is taking place in the context of court challenges in other universities aimed at overturning the Supreme Court precedent allowing for the inclusion of race in university admissions," he said. he declares.
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