Biden Justice Department Scraps Investigation Into Yale’s Discriminatory Admissions Process

The Biden Justice Department dropped an investigation into Yale University, despite the previous Justice Department concluding that the university discriminated against applicants on the basis of race.

The Justice Department announced Wednesday in a filing for a federal district court in Connecticut that it is dropping a Trump-era investigation into Yale for alleged racial discrimination in its admissions process. A judge is still required to sign off on the decision to dismiss the two-year probe. 

The previous Department of Justice concluded that Yale had discriminated against Asian and white applicants in favor of “racially-favored applicants” in its admissions process. The department threatened to sue Yale if it refused to abandon its racial preference practices.

“For at least 50 years, Defendant Yale University has intentionally subjected applicants to Yale College to discrimination on the grounds of race and national origin,” the Justice Department concluded in August of 2020. “For the last few decades, Yale’s oversized standardless, intentional use of race has subjected domestic, non-transfer applicants to Yale College to discrimination on the ground of race.”

According to an analysis by the Washington Free Beacon, black students were five to eight times more likely and Hispanics were two to four times more likely to be admitted to Yale than their white and Asian counterparts with similar academic achievements. In 2017 and 2018, 6.4 percent of white and Asian applicants were admitted to the incoming freshman class, while 8.3 percent of Hispanic and 9.5 percent of black applicants were admitted. 

Yale denies giving racial preference to minority applicants. In a statement to Fox News, university spokeswoman Karen Peart said that Yale was “gratified” that the Justice Department decided to drop the investigation. 

“Yale is gratified that the U.S. Justice Department has dropped its lawsuit challenging Yale College’s admissions practices,” Peart said. “We are also pleased that the Justice Department has withdrawn its notice of violation of Title VI and its notice of noncompliance.”

The grounds for an investigation into the university were based on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination of the basis of race, color, or national origin “in programs and activities receiving financial assistance from the federal government.” Yale receives millions in taxpayer dollars each year.

Students for Fair Admissions, a non-profit organization that believes racial classifications have no place in the college admissions process, announced in a press release that it will file a new lawsuit challenging Yale’s discriminatory admissions process. 

“It is disappointing that the Department of Justice withdrew from this important lawsuit which had exposed Yale’s illegal use of quotas to achieve racial and ethnic proportionality,” said Students for Fair Admissions President Edward Blum.

“It is important that this lawsuit continues to be vigorously litigated through the courts during the coming months and years if necessary. Using race and ethnicity in college admissions decisions is unfair, unconstitutional and is fraying the social fabric that holds our nation together,” he continued. 

Students for Fair Admissions declined to comment any further on the litigation. 

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