The percentage of African Americans accepted grew from 11.4 percent in 2016 to 14.6 percent in 2017, The Daily Mail reported Thursday.
The news of the investigation comes on the heels of a controversial New York Times report, which cited an internal DOJ memo that reportedly said President Donald Trump’s administration plans to sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies “deemed to discriminate against white applicants”.
It said the document seen by the paper, which referred to “a new project on [.] intentional race-based discrimination” was actually about a 2015 complaint by a coalition of Asian-American groups.
The DOJ says the document had only to do with the Harvard investigation, not a sweeping review of affirmative action.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will investigate allegations that Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans in its admissions process, according to a department spokesperson.
Out of the 2,056 applicants accepted, 50.8 percent identified as minorities.
The complaint also accused Harvard of using a racial quota system when choosing incoming students, which Harvard denies.
Harvard has defended its admission process, stating that it looks for candidates from different races and locations who have a variety of experiences that would make up a diverse student landscape.
Meanwhile, the other lawsuit – involving former stock broker Edward Blum, who runs the group Students for Fair Admissions – also alleged that Harvard’s admissions policies are discriminatory against Asian-Americans.
“To become leaders in our diverse society, students must have the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives”. “This Department of Justice has not received or issued any directive, memorandum, initiative, or policy related to university admissions in general”, the statement continues.
A more active Justice Department on this front could push schools to demonstrate that they are looking at other factors before race, Harpalani said.
As Harvard University prepares to welcome its most diverse class of students in history, reports by a university newspaper say the elite school will be investigated for allegedly discriminating against Asian Americans in the admissions process.
“I understand the visceral sense that African Americans have been treated badly in this country for a very long time, and right after we got rid of Jim Crow [segregation laws], it wasn’t such a bad idea to give special consideration over someone who was a recent beneficiary of Jim Crow”.
But the ruling does require universities, if they are challenged, to show that they had no choice but to use race to create diversity on campus and that other factors alone, such as family income or an advantage to first-generation college students, couldn’t create a similar mix of students, said Vinay Harpalani, a law professor at the Savannah Law School, who specializes in affirmative action. “What possible sense does that make?” he said.