U.S. says it might enter Harvard affirmative action court battle

https://www.reuters.com ^ | 4/6/18 | Nate Raymond

[BBell]

(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it might formally enter a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian-American applicants as the agency probes its admissions policies for potential civil rights violations.

The department disclosed its plan in a brief urging a federal judge in Boston to not allow the Ivy League school to file pre-trial court papers and documents provisionally under seal.

Harvard had cited the need to protect the privacy of applicants and students as well as the inner workings of its admissions process, arguing that various documents should be initially filed under seal pending the judge’s review.

The Justice Department said it opposed Harvard’s request, joining Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the group behind the case, which has urged the disclosure of “powerful” evidence showing Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

“Harvard College is responsible for protecting the confidential and highly sensitive personal information that prospective students - none of whom asked to be involved in this dispute - entrust to us every year in their applications,” Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane said in a statement.

“We are committed to safeguarding their privacy while also ensuring that the public has the access that it is entitled to under the law,” Dane said.

William Consovoy, a lawyer for SFFA, declined to comment.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled universities may use affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college. Conservatives have said such programs can hurt white people and Asian-Americans.

[ifinnegan]

Yes. Orientals were overrepresented ie Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc...

The Philippinos on the other hand were underrepresented.

[RitaOK]

Blaming conservatives. Heck Asian-Americans have the proof in numbers that Harvard is messing with them. How dare Harvard “seal” their enrollment “standard” and tricky math.

[Crucial]

And even if the court rules in favor of Asians, whites will be left as the only group discriminated against in college admissions.

[Amberdawn]

I was just wondering the same thing. The ONLY group that can be LEGALLY discriminated against are white males. We need to RIOT, seriously.

[Amberdawn]

I wonder what the breakdown is between American born and foreign “asians”? If the college is discriminating against foreign born asians, that’s OK by me given the numbers who want to come here from China, etc.

[trebb]

Probably because unlike a lot of other minorities, Asians tend to take care of themselves....they don’t make good targets for super leftist ideas.

[utahagen]

Don’t think the issue has anything to do with foreign-born Asians, who would be viewed as part of the foreign-born pool. The lawsuit is about Asian Americans, who certainly are treated unfairly in the college admissions process. There is no question that colleges - all competitive colleges, public and private — have unspoken quotas for Asians and that even the Asians they admit have to have much more impressive applications than the non-Asian applicants’. And the comparison between what is expected from Asian applicants versus what is expected from black applicants is risible.

[Amberdawn]

Ok. I know that colleges seek out a lot of foreign students because they pay “full freight” in tuition. However, I’m wondering if colleges bump American students to take foreign “full payers” in?