The court papers shed light on how the university considers an applicant's socioeconomic status, race or personality to give preference on who gets in. A federal court has unsealed hundreds of admissions applications and documents in recent weeks as part of a lawsuit alleging the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants. The documents would include personal information about test scores and grades along with interviews and personal essays gathered during the admissions process.A treasure trove of documents about Harvard University's admission process is revealing secrets about how America's oldest university selects its students. 17 letter from the Justice Department to Seth Waxman, who is representing Harvard, complaining that the university had refused to turn over a single document it had requested, and threatening to sue unless the documents were provided. The government investigation into Harvard was later confirmed by a Nov. After initially refusing to talk about it, the department said it was looking at a complaint filed on behalf of Asian applicants, describing it in a way that clearly matched the Harvard dispute. In August, the Justice Department set up a special project in its Civil Rights Division - run out of its front office, where political appointees work, rather than its education section - to scrutinize race-conscious college admissions practices. The complaint closely tracks a federal lawsuit against Harvard by Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit organization formed to challenge race-conscious admissions policies. Harvard has said that it does not discriminate on the basis of race, and that in the quest to put together a diverse student body, it looks at many intangible factors, and many applicants who would qualify based on grades and test scores alone are denied.
The Justice Department investigation is based on a complaint by a coalition of Asian-American organizations who say that Harvard has in effect penalized high-achieving Asian-American applicants by passing them over for admission in favor of less-qualified black, white and Hispanic applicants. The Department is reviewing the university’s response and declines comment at this time.” We are pleased that Harvard today indicated it too takes this matter seriously and has presented a potential path forward. O’Malley, struck a conciliatory note, saying: “The Department of Justice takes seriously any potential violation of an individual’s civil and constitutional rights. It was unclear Friday whether the Justice Department would agree to the offer.Ī spokesman for the Justice Department, Devin M. “Harvard has offered the Department of Justice access to the requested documents in a manner that seeks to prevent public disclosure of confidential and highly sensitive student and applicant information entrusted to our protection,” Melodie Jackson, a spokeswoman for Harvard, said in a statement. Responding to that deadline, Harvard offered a compromise position in which the government’s lawyers would be able to examine all the records, including an electronic database, in the offices of Harvard’s lawyers, with some personal information redacted.
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