Yale University discriminated against Asian-American applicants, DOJ investigation says

‘There is no such thing as a nice form of race discrimination’

(AP)

Yale University is illegally "discriminating" against Asian American and white applications, according to a Justice Department investigation.

Department officials said on Thursday that Yale "racially balances its classes" and uses race as a determining factor throughout the admissions process.

Yale denied the allegations, saying in a statement that the allegations were "meritless" and "hasty", according to the Associated Press.

"Yale's race discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavoured applicants, including in particular Asian American and white applicants," Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, who heads the department's civil rights division, wrote in a letter to the college's attorneys, according to AP.

The Department of Justice found that, for the great majority of applicants: Asian Americans and whites have only one-tenth to one-fourth of the likelihood of admission as African American applicants with comparable academic credentials.

The findings are the result of a two-year investigation conducted in response to complaints from Asian American groups, with the Justice Department demanding Yale stop the race-based admissions process or submit a plan "demonstrating its proposal is narrowly tailored as required by law, including by identifying a date for the end of race discrimination."

Yale categorically denied the allegations, saying in its statement they were proud of the university's admissions practices and would not change them on the basis of a hasty accusation.

"Given our commitment to complying with federal law, we are dismayed that the DOJ has made its determination before allowing Yale to provide all the information the department has requested thus far," the statement said.

"Had the department fully received and fairly weighed this information, it would have concluded that Yale's practices absolutely comply with decades of Supreme Court precedent."

According to the Justice Department, Yale's admissions process is in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, or national origin in programs that receive federal funding.

The department said Yale must agree to comply with the act as a condition of receiving millions in federal funding.

"There is no such thing as a nice form of race discrimination," Mr Dreiband said.