Justice denies broad move against college affirmative action
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Wednesday it had no broad plans to investigate whether college and university admission programs discriminate against students based on race, seeking to defray worries that a job posting signalled an effort to reverse course on affirmative action.
News reports of the posting inflamed advocacy groups that believed it would lead to legal action against universities for not admitting white students over minorities with similar qualifications.
But a day after The New York Times reported the department was seeking current attorneys interested in “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” the Justice Department said the job ad was related to just one complaint.
“The posting sought volunteers to investigate one administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that the prior administration left unresolved,” spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said. The groups sued Harvard University, saying that school and other Ivy League institutions are using racial quotas to admit students other than high-scoring Asians. Isgur Flores said the Justice Department had received no broader guidance related to university admissions in general and “is committed to protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-based discrimination.”