Feds Sue Yale For Alleged Racial Discrimination

The Trump Administration has sued Yale University for allegedly violating federal civil rights law by discriminating against white and Asian undergraduate applicants.

The feds filed that lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut. The case is called United States of America v. Yale University.

“For at least 50 years, Defendant Yale University (Yale) has intentionally subjected applicants to Yale College to discrimination on the grounds of race and national origin,” the lawsuit alleges. ​“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.”

In an email statement sent to members of the Yale community Thursday night, Yale President Peter Salovey rebuked the allegations included in the lawsuit, defended Yale’s admissions practices, and pledged not to change the university’s admissions practices because of the suit.

“I want to be clear: Yale does not discriminate against applicants of any race or ethnicity,” he wrote. ​“Our admissions practices are completely fair and lawful. Yale’s admissions policies will not change as a result of the filing of this baseless lawsuit. We look forward to defending these policies in court.” See below for Salovey’s full statement.

State Attorney General William Tong also responded Thursday night with a denunciation of the lawsuit and a pledge of support for the university. He said his office is looking into how it can best support Yale against the suit.

“Diversity matters,” Tong is quoted as saying in the press release. ​“Equity and inclusion matter. Each and every one of us benefits from listening to the perspectives and experiences of those who are different from us.”

The legal complaint, which can be read in full here, comes just under two months after the federal government wrapped up a two-year investigation into Yale’s admission practices, with a focus on how the university factors race into its overall evaluation of a student’s application.

That investigation culminated with the federal government accusing Yale of ​“long-standing and ongoing” racial discrimination largely in favor of Black and Hispanic applicants, and largely against White and Asian applicants.

Students and faculty responded to that investigation by slamming the Trump Administration and U.S. Attorney General William Barr for continuing a long-running conservative attack on affirmative action, and for not taking into account the necessity of race-conscious applications in a society with a long history of racial injustice.

The lawsuit alleges that Yale’s ​“use of race in undergraduate admissions to Yale College is not narrowly tailored to a compelling interest.”

Instead, the government states, its factoring in of race in applications is overly broad — not only leaving out white and Asian applicants, but also instilling a sense of inferiority in Black and Hispanic applicants who make the cut.

“Yale’s race discrimination injures applicants and students,” the suit states. ​“Yale does this in various ways. Yale subjects applicants to Yale College to discrimination on the ground of race. And, because Yale claims that its race discrimination is necessary to admit sufficient numbers of racially-favored applicants, mostly Black and Hispanic applicants, Yale signals that racially-favored applicants cannot compete against Asian and White applicants. This kind of race discrimination relies upon and reinforces damaging race based stereotypes.”

Yale receives hundreds of millions of dollars every year from the federal government, the lawsuit states, including $630 million from the Department of Health and Human Services alone. Therefore, Yale must follow federal law, including Title VI.

“The United States seeks declaratory, injunctive, and damages relief to remedy Yale’s discriminatory conduct and to protect the civil rights of all applicants to Yale College.”

The lawsuit states that Yale uses application forms that ask for an applicant to identify their race, and that it encourages admission officers to use race as a positive or negative factor in their assessment of applications.

The lawsuit states that, from 2000 to 2017, the percentage of Black and Hispanic applicants admitted to Yale College was consistently higher than the percentage of Black and Hispanic applicants to Yale, while the percentage of White and Asian applicants admitted was less than the percentage of those who applied.

It also states that Yale has not complied with federal government recommendations to develop and implement ​“race-neutral alternatives” by, for example, emphasizing the socio-economic status, geographic diversity, or individual challenges accessing educational opportunities.

Yale could also ​“eliminate its favoring of legacies, donors, and other special interest applicants to achieve the educational benefits of diversity and eliminate Yale’s use of race.”

Yale President Peter Salovey’s Response

Dear Members of the Yale Community,

In August, I wrote to let you know about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) allegation that Yale’s undergraduate admissions practices discriminate against Asian American and white applicants. Over the last few weeks, Yale has provided DOJ with information showing that this allegation is based on inaccurate statistics and unfounded conclusions, such as DOJ’s claim that the proportion of various racial groups admitted to Yale has remained stable for many years. In fact, in the last two decades, the percentage of admitted applicants fluctuated significantly for all groups. Despite our efforts to correct these misconceptions and the fact that Yale’s undergraduate admissions practices are perfectly consistent with decades of Supreme Court precedent, tonight DOJ filed a lawsuit against our university.

I want to be clear: Yale does not discriminate against applicants of any race or ethnicity. Our admissions practices are completely fair and lawful. Yale’s admissions policies will not change as a result of the filing of this baseless lawsuit. We look forward to defending these policies in court.

In thinking about this issue, it is important to bear in mind the quality of Yale’s admissions pool. Even if we thought that relying on GPA and test scores alone was in Yale’s best interest, we could not take that course because we have too many applicants with excellent academic qualifications. More important, Yale would not be well served by looking only at GPA and test scores, which do not provide a complete picture of each applicant.

Our admissions process considers as many aspects as possible of an applicant’s life experiences and accomplishments. That does include race and ethnicity, but only as one element in a multi-stage examination of the entire application file, which takes into account test scores, grades, teacher recommendations, extracurricular activities, military service, and many other factors. No single element is considered independently of the whole application. We take this approach because we know that exposure to a diverse student body improves students’ critical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership skills and prepares them to thrive in a complex, dynamic world. 

As our country grapples with urgent questions about race and social justice, I have never been more certain that Yale’s approach to undergraduate admissions helps us to fulfill our mission to improve the world today and for future generations. We remain unwavering in our commitment to identifying applicants whose individual experiences and abilities will combine to create an extraordinary educational community.

Sincerely,

Peter Salovey
President
Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology

State Attorney General William Tong’s Response

This lawsuit is as baseless as it is offensive, and every aspect of it demonstrates complete and utter overreach. My office is exploring all legal avenues to support Yale University and its students. The Department of Justice action deviates starkly from decades of well-established legal precedent and threatens to disrupt admissions practices at hundreds of universities nationwide. Diversity matters. Equity and inclusion matter. Each and every one of us benefits from listening to the perspectives and experiences of those who are different from us. As a nation, we have failed to foster those conversations and have allowed far too many of our communities to persist in an unacceptable stasis of separate and unequal. Universities are not immune from systemic racism and other institutional inequality, and their efforts to confront our shared failings should be supported — not targeted. The timing and motivations behind this lawsuit are clear — to foment more hate and division on the eve of an election. As an Asian-American, this action is deeply offensive. It is shamefully ironic that this Administration purportedly seeks to take up the cause of Asian-American students after spending months actively inciting violence and hatred against the Asian-American community. This Administration has fully embraced its racist mantle as the last gasp of this failing Presidency.