Harvard University engages in “racial balancing” that brazenly discriminates against Asian-American applicants in the same way the school once set quotas on Jewish students, a group of applicants said Friday in asking for a ruling before a trial.
Harvard is defending a lawsuit over how it chooses its students by a group representing more than a dozen Asian-American applicants who were rejected. The group, which sued in 2014, told a federal judge in Boston Friday that they’ve obtained “incontrovertible” evidence the university has “engineered the admissions process to achieve” illegal goals.
Harvard, which will file its own motion to the court on Friday, said in a statement that it doesn’t discriminate against any group and that evidence shows the rate of admissions for Asian-American students has grown 29 percent over the last decade. The school criticized Edward Blum, the leader of the plaintiffs’ group, Students for Fair Admissions Inc.
“Mr. Blum and his organization’s incomplete and misleading data analysis paint a dangerously inaccurate picture of Harvard College’s whole-person admissions process by omitting critical data and information factors, such as personal essays and teacher recommendations, that directly counter his arguments,” the university said in a statement.
Harvard Pushed by U.S. to Share Admissions Data in Bias Suit