The Trump administration had claimed that the school’s practices hurt white and Asian-American applicants, violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Justice Department on Wednesday withdrew a lawsuit against Yale University that charged it with discriminating against Asian-American and white applicants, reversing a key element of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine race-based college admissions.
The department brought the lawsuit last year on the grounds that white and Asian-American students faced stricter admissions standards.
Its action on Wednesday suggested that the Biden administration might be prepared to take sharply different policies regarding affirmative action, but it does not mean the lawsuit against Yale is dead. Students for Fair Admissions, a group opposed to affirmative action, plans to pick it up and refile it under its name.
“Yale is gratified that the U.S. Justice Department has dropped its lawsuit challenging Yale College’s admissions practices,” Karen N. Peart, a school spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Our admissions process has allowed Yale College to assemble an unparalleled student body, which is distinguished by its academic excellence and diversity.”
The “notice of voluntary dismissal” of the Yale lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Connecticut on Wednesday, does not give any reason for the Justice Department’s decision. In a statement, the Justice Department said it had dismissed the lawsuit “in light of all available facts, circumstances and legal developments,” including a federal appeals court decision in November upholding race-based admissions practices at Harvard.
But the department said it would continue an “underlying investigation” to ensure compliance with the federal funding provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ms. Peart said Yale was continuing to cooperate with that review.
Students for Fair Admissions, which has also filed lawsuits challenging race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard, the University of Texas and the University of North Carolina, said it was important that the Yale lawsuit continue to be vigorously litigated.
“Using race and ethnicity in college admissions decisions is unfair, unconstitutional and is fraying the social fabric that holds our nation together,” said Edward Blum, the president of the organization.
The Yale lawsuit, filed in October, asserted that the university discriminated against both Asian-American and white applicants. The government said that race was the “determinative factor” in hundreds of admissions decisions each year, and that “for the great majority of applicants,” Asian-American and white applicants have only one-eighth to one-fourth the likelihood of admission as Black applicants with comparable academic credentials.
Violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the government said, could cost Yale millions of dollars in taxpayer money. The complaint said Yale received more than $600 million annually in federal funds.
Yale said its admissions process did not discriminate and complied with Supreme Court precedent.
Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department also supported a lawsuit against Harvard brought by Students for Fair Admissions claiming that the university had intentionally discriminated against Asian-American applicants. Given its withdrawal from the Yale case, the Justice Department seems likely to rescind its support of that case as well.
In 2019, a federal judge rejected the claims that Students for Fair Admissions made against Harvard, a decision that was upheld by an appeals court. The plaintiffs are expected to file a petition to the Supreme Court.
Because a motion that Students for Fair Admissions filed in October to intervene in the Yale case was denied, it would have to refile the case from scratch, though it could use the Justice Department complaint as a template.
Civil rights groups, including some representing Asian-American students, praised the Biden administration’s action. “It’s great to see that America again has a Justice Department that is back in the business of fulfilling its mission of advancing equal educational opportunity and promoting racial diversity,” said David Hinojosa, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
But some Asian-Americans criticized the decision to drop the suit. Kenny Xu, author of “An Inconvenient Minority,” a book critical of race-based admissions, noted that just days ago, President Biden signed an executive order denouncing racial hostility against Asian-Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, which Donald J. Trump had blamed on the “China virus.”
The decision to drop the Yale suit, Mr. Xu said, “calls into serious question the Biden administration’s pledge to fight racism mere days after it made the orders.”
Withdrawing the Yale lawsuit could be just the start of actions taken by the Biden administration to reverse policies of the Trump era.
Terry Hartle, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs for the American Council on Education, a group that represents universities, said he expected the new administration to revisit Trump-era changes to policies on campus sexual assault, forgiving loans for students defrauded by their schools, and reporting the employment earnings of graduates.
“They’re moving very quickly to reverse a host of Trump administration policies that are inconsistent with the Biden administration’s worldview,” Mr. Hartle said.
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Justice Dept Drops Lawsuit Claiming Yale Discriminated in Admissions - The New York Times
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