by Natalia Castro
The Department of Justice took a stand against prejudice last month when the department filed a complaint against Harvard College for discriminated against Asian American students. Now, the DOJ has taken this a step further by expanding their complaint to include three other universities known for discrimination in their admissions process. By expanding the scope of their complaint, the DOJ is reaffirming their commitment to justice and equality for all.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the DOJ is investigating Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth colleges for holding Asian-American students to a higher standard than students of other races and use an illegal quota to cap the number of admitted Asian American students.
The Asian American Coalition for Education continued in a Sept. 2018, “Compelling evidence indicates that Yale University and many other selective colleges in the U.S. fail to comply with [antidiscrimination] laws. On the contrary, they have applied de facto racial quotas, racial stereotypes and higher admissions standards to discriminate against Asian American applicants. After extracurricular activities and other factors are adjusted, an Asian-American applicant has to score on average 140, 270 and 450 points higher than a white student, a Hispanic student and a black student on the SAT, respectively, in order to enjoy the same chances of admissions. Such blatant and widespread discrimination against Asian American children needs to be stopped.”
According to the Wall Street Journal report, Yale has “unequivocally” denied any discrimination in admissions proceedings.
The Department of Justice and Asian American groups blame this discrimination on affirmative action policies, which are meant to provide historically marginalized minority groups with greater access to higher education. Unfortunately, Asian Americans are not viewed as marginalized enough to receive equal opportunities.
When the DOJ began investigating Harvard University in August, Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted, “No American should be denied admission to school because of their race. As a recipient of taxpayer dollars, Harvard has a responsibility to conduct its admissions policy without racial discrimination by using meaningful admissions criteria that meet lawful requirements. The Department of Justice has the responsibility to protect the civil rights of the American people. This case is significant because the admissions policies at our colleges and universities are important and must be conducted lawfully.”
In the lawsuit filed against Harvard, Students for Fair Admissions argued if the admissions process was based on an “academic-only” model, Asian Americans wouldcomprise of 43.4 percent of the admitted class. Instead, this group makes up only 18.7 percent of the Harvard class. The Wall Street Journal found that Asian American students only make up 21.7 percent of the incoming class at Yale.
Clearly, discrimination is going on in universities across the country. A process intended to be built on fairness and merit has become one based on oppression Olympics and identity politics. Schools who collect taxpayer money cannot be allowed to discriminate against hardworking Asian American students or anyone else and the DOJ took a strong stance against this racism by combating these elite university policies.
– – –
Natalia Castro is the multimedia manager at Americans for Limited Government.
