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Rowers paddle along the Charles River past the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts in March last year. Photo: AP

Harvard denies admissions bias in suit by Asian-Americans

Harvard, the wealthiest US university, has asked the judge throw out the case before trial, arguing that admissions data and pretrial witness testimony do not support the plaintiff’s claims

Harvard University assailed a group claiming the school intentionally discriminates against Asian-American applicants, saying in a court filing that the organisation offered a “misleading narrative” based on “cherry-picked” documents.

Students for Fair Admissions, which is suing the Ivy League school, claims Harvard ignored statistical evidence from its own researchers showing bias in admissions. The group asked a judge to decide the case in its favour before a trial scheduled for October in Boston, based on court filings.

Harvard on Friday responded aggressively, calling the written request “a 45-page press release”.

“The evidence fails to show – let alone beyond dispute – that Harvard intentionally discriminates against Asian-American applicants,” the school said.

Students for Fair Admissions, which sued in 2014, last month told the judge that it has “incontrovertible” evidence that the university has “engineered the admissions process to achieve” illegal goals.

The organisation says Asian-Americans are subject to the same kind of quotas that kept many Jews out of Ivy League colleges in the first half of the 20th century – and the Trump administration has indicated it’s sympathetic to their argument.

Branded merchandise is displayed for sale outside Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts in June. Photo: Reuters

The US Justice Department weighed in on the case in April, urging the judge to publicly release years of admissions data provided by Harvard. The government said it has a “substantial interest” in the lawsuit because it is conducting a probe of similar allegations.

Harvard, the wealthiest US university, has asked the judge throw out the case before trial, arguing that admissions data and pretrial witness testimony do not support the plaintiff’s claims.

“Students for Fair Admissions looks forward to presenting our case at trial in October at which time the remaining redacted data, memos, emails and depositions Harvard refuses to disclose will be made public during testimony,” SFFA’s president, Edward Blum, said in an emailed statement.

Harvard said in its brief that the evidence fails to show intentional discrimination or support a claim of “racial balancing.” Harvard argued that the group’s own expert witness agreed that the racial composition of a Harvard freshman class “fluctuates significantly“ from year to year.

The school said its consideration of race, “as one factor among many” in the admissions process, is legal under US Supreme Court precedent. And it claimed the plaintiff is unable to show how Harvard could provide the educational benefit of a diverse student body while remaining blind to race.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Harvard rejects claim of racial bias
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