The Department of Justice reportedly has an open investigation into race-base admission standards at Harvard University, according to information revealed by a Freedom of Information Act request.
On Oct. 4, the group American Oversight published a response by the DOJ about allegations that the department’s civil rights division was going to investigate race-based discrimination at Harvard. The letter includes a clause that the records they requested about the race-based admissions probe are “exempt from disclosure” due to a law enforcement exemption:
BREAKING: DOJ confirms #affirmativeaction investigation of Harvard in response to our #FOIA with @LawyersComm: https://t.co/lcOMpstcUF pic.twitter.com/rh8sbnCfeQ
— American Oversight (@weareoversight) October 4, 2017
While the letter does not specifically mention an ongoing investigation into Harvard, it does mention there are no documents related to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which has also been criticized for its race-based admission standards.
A spokesperson for American Oversight told BuzzFeed News that the letter confirms there is an “active” investigation into Harvard.
In a statement, American Oversight executive director Austin Evers said, “This is further proof that Attorney General Sessions and the Trump administration will continue to invoke civil rights only to further their own political agenda — not provide equal protections for all Americans. It speaks volumes that Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department is prioritizing attacking affirmative action at a time when white nationalists are marching openly in the streets.”
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed the FOIA request along with American Oversight, called the investigation an “unprecedented assault on efforts to promote racial diversity in higher education.”
For the freshman class of 2017, Harvard boasted about having a majority non-white incoming class. Harvard has been under fire for discriminating against Asians in admissions, favoring other racial groups.
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