Yale University has found itself in the dock as the U.S. Department Justice and Department of Education has opened an investigation whether the school discriminates against Asian-American students.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration has started a civil rights investigation against the university to find out if it treated Asian applicants differently during the admission process on the basis of their race.
The latest investigation comes weeks after the Justice Department filed a statement of interest before the court and alleged Harvard University of rating applicants of Asian-American origin lower on leadership and ability scores.
“The record in evidence demonstrates that Harvard’s race-based admissions process significantly disadvantages Asian-American applicants compared to applicants of other racial groups— including both white applicants and applicants from other racial minority groups,” the Justice Department filing reads.
While Yale’s President Peter Salovey has vehemently denied the charges.
“I write now to state unequivocally that Yale does not discriminate in admissions against Asian Americans or any other racial or ethnic group. Yale’s policies have resulted in an outstanding and increasingly diverse student body,” Salovey wrote to the student body.
“The creation of a diverse academic community has not come at the expense of applicants of any racial or ethnic background. The number of Asian Americans has grown from less than 14 percent of the incoming first-year class to 21.7 percent in the Class of 2022.”
According to the Journal, the investigations were opened in April and will be jointly conducted by the Civil Rights Division of Justice Department and Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.