Harvard University intentionally discriminates against Asian-American applicants and engages in racial balancing when choosing its undergraduate classes, according to legal documents filed in federal court on Friday by a nonprofit organization challenging the institution’s admissions policies. The group also said Harvard has ignored evidence that its admissions practices had “negative effects” on Asian-American students.
In a filing of their own on Friday, Harvard’s lawyers forcefully rejected the organization’s allegations, saying they had been based on “gerrymandered statistics” and facts stripped of context. The group suing the university, they wrote, had produced “no legally sufficient evidence to support its speculation that Harvard has engaged in years-long, intentional discounting of Asian-Americans’ applications.”
Yet, if nothing else, the group — Students for Fair Admissions — has disclosed hundreds of pages of documents that shed some light on Harvard’s highly elaborate selection process, including how admissions officers consider an applicant’s race. Portions of the documents describe previously confidential findings by the university’s Office of Institutional Research, which recently sought to determine whether Harvard’s admissions practices put Asian-American students at a disadvantage….
The Chronicle of Higher Education