BITTER

Yale Illegally Discriminates Against White, Asian-American Applicants: DOJ Investigation

The discrimination was a violation of federal civil rights law, the Justice Department concluded after its two-year investigation.

Yale University is illegally discriminating against some Asian American and white applicants in violation of federal civil rights law, the Justice Department found following a two-year investigation. The probe—launched in 2018 after Asian advocacy groups complained about Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth—was part of the Trump administration’s continued attacks on college admissions and affirmative action. It found that Yale rejected “scores” of applicants based on race alone, and white or Asian-American applicants had one tenth to one fourth of the likelihood of getting in compared to African American applicants with similar academic credentials. “Unlawfully dividing Americans into racial and ethnic blocs fosters stereotypes, bitterness, and division,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said. Yale previously said Asian-American admissions had increased and the school considered “the whole person” in the applications process. The probe was separate to an unsuccessful Harvard lawsuit that argued Asian Americans were discriminated against.