US Education Department investigating Harvard legacy admissions policy for racial discrimination News
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US Education Department investigating Harvard legacy admissions policy for racial discrimination

The US Department of Education’s (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced in a Monday letter that it is looking into whether Harvard University’s donor and legacy admissions preferences perpetuates racial discrimination. The announcement comes after a complaint was filed against Harvard University three weeks ago with the DOE, which alleged the university’s preferential admissions treatment to those who come from families that have donated money or have attended Harvard are discriminatory on the basis of race.

Legacy admissions have received increasing scrutiny after the US Supreme Court ruled at the end of its term in June that affirmative action, or the use of race when considering college applicants, was unconstitutional.

In its letter, the OCR stated it is investigating whether the legacy admissions policy violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on “race, color, or national origin in any programs or activity” that gets federal funding from the DOE.

Over the years, multiple outlets have called for an end to legacy admissions to achieve education equity. For example, in 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released an article detailing disproportionate numbers of legacy admissions compared to students of color. Specifically, legacy applicants, or those having family ties to a university, are more likely to be admitted than Black and Latinx students combined.

Previously, Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a bill called the Fair College Admissions for Students Act in the Senate and House of Representatives in 2022. The bill would have banned colleges and universities that receive federal funds from giving preferential admissions treatment to those with family ties to the school. However, the bill never went to a vote.

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