On August 14, 2020, I wrote about a finding by the Department of Justice alleging that Yale University discriminates against whites and asian in admissions, Justice Dept: Yale discriminates in admissions against Asian Americans and whites.
That letter finding resulted in a lawsuit in October 2020. The DOJ announcement of the lawsuit asserted:
The Justice Department today filed suit against Yale University for race and national origin discrimination. The complaint alleges that Yale discriminated against applicants to Yale College on the grounds of race and national origin, and that Yale’s discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants, including in particular most Asian and White applicants.The complaint also alleges that Yale injures applicants and students because Yale’s race discrimination relies upon and reinforces damaging race-based stereotypes, including in particular such stereotypes against Yale’s racially-favored applicants. And, the complaint alleges that Yale engages in racial balancing by, among other things, keeping the annual percentage of African-American admitted applicants to within one percentage point of the previous year’s admitted class as reflected in U.S. Department of Education data. The complaint alleges similar racial balancing about Asian-American applicants.The department’s complaint alleges that Yale’s race and national origin discrimination violate Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The lawsuit is the result of a multi-year investigation into allegations of illegal discrimination contained in a complaint filed by Asian American groups concerning Yale’s conduct.
The Complaint alleged, among other things:
2. 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.1 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.3. Yale’s race discrimination includes imposing undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants, including in particular most Asian, and White applicants.4. Yale has engaged in this race discrimination despite receiving millions of dollars of federal taxpayer funding subject to Title VI’s restrictions. Yale’s race discrimination violates Title VI’s requirement that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000d.5. Yale’s race discrimination injures applicants and students. 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 racebased stereotypes.6. Yale’s system of race discrimination assigns value to applicants based on racial categories per se – apart from the applicants’ personal and individual challenges pursuing educational opportunities.* * *13. Because of Yale’s race discrimination, Asian and White applicants have a significantly lower chance of admission to Yale College than do similarly-situated Black and Hispanic applicants.214. Yale’s violation of Title VI includes subjecting domestic, non-transfer Asian and White applicants to Yale College to unlawful discrimination on the ground of race.15. 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 Court docket does not show Yale having filed an Answer. The reason is unclear, it might have to do with the court considering a motion to intervene by Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., which was denied on January 19, 2021.
It looks like Yale never will have to answer, because DOJ just dropped the lawsuit in a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal:
Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41, Plaintiff United States notices dismissal of this action. Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) provides that a plaintiff may voluntarily dismiss an action without a court order by filing “a notice of dismissal before the opposing party serves either an answer or a motion for summary judgment.” Defendant Yale has not served an answer or motion for summary judgment in this action. The United States accordingly notices voluntary dismissal of this action, without prejudice. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(B).
There was no explanation in the court papers for the reversal of position. The only thing that changed was administrations.
This is a large green light from the Biden administration that discrimination on the basis of race is okay again in higher ed, provided the discrimination is only against certain races.
This development makes our rollout of Critical Race Training In Higher Education all the more timely. Parents and students are on their own.
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