The US government says Yale University is illegally discriminating against white and Asian-American applicants.<\/p>\n
The results of a two-year investigation by the Department of Justice found the Ivy League university had breached civil rights law in its undergraduate admissions process.<\/p>\n
The department threatened to file a lawsuit against the university if it failed to take “remedial” measures.<\/p>\n
A Yale spokeswoman said the university “categorically” denied the accusations.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump’s administration has been a strong opponent of so-called affirmative action.<\/p>\n
The programmes, which were supported by former President Barack Obama, seek to boost admissions of under-represented minorities, particularly Hispanics and African-Americans..<\/p>\n
The Department of Justice’s report, published on Thursday, said that while the Supreme Court allows universities that receive taxpayer funding to use race as “one of a number of factors” during admissions, “Yale’s use of race is anything but limited”.<\/p>\n
“Yale uses race at multiple steps of its admissions process resulting in a multiplied effect of race on an applicant’s likelihood of admission,” it said.<\/p>\n
Yale strongly rejected the report’s conclusions, which it said had been made before the university was able to provide all of the information requested by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
“Had the Department fully received and fairly weighed this information, it would have concluded that Yale’s practices absolutely comply with decades of Supreme Court precedent,” Yale said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The university said it considers a many factors during the admissions process and said it would not change its process “on the basis of such a meritless, hasty accusation.”<\/p>\n
Last year,\u00a0Harvard University was cleared of discrimination against Asian-American applicants<\/a>\u00a0by a federal judge following a lawsuit, although the ruling is now being appealed.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"