The Key to Getting Into Yale

Blog readers will recall the Harvard admissions case - currently inching towards the U.S. Supreme Court - which involved a challenge to affirmative action-type policies which, the plaintiffs argue, discriminate against Asians. The Harvard case was filed by a private group. There was a similar case filed against Yale by the feds under President Trump, but the Biden administration withdrew it. However, it seems likely that a private group is likely to pick up the reins and pursue that one, too. Given the conservative tilt of the Supreme Court, it is possible that there will be a ruling of some type in some such case against affirmative action. Because California voters did not reverse Prop 209 in the last election, in principle UC's current admissions practices would be less vulnerable to a Supreme Court decision than the practices at other universities.

From Inside Higher Ed: The Justice Department on Wednesday withdrew a lawsuit it filed in October charging that Yale University discriminates against Asian and white applicants.

The suit was one of several in the courts on the issue of affirmative action. But unlike the litigation against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Yale case was brought by the Justice Department, not a private group. So a change in the administration -- from President Trump to President Biden -- can lead to the case's demise.

Students for Fair Admissions, the group suing Harvard and UNC, said it would sue Yale for the same reasons...

Full story at: 

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/02/04/affirmative-action-case-against-yale-dropped