Two organizations are interpreting a U.S. Department of Justice letter as “proof” that the department is hellbent on challenging affirmative action. The letter was a response to their Freedom of Information Act request for information about departmental plans to investigate admissions policies and practices at Harvard University.
The two groups — American Oversight and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law — put out a joint statement that the DOJ letter had “confirmed” that it is looking into Harvard University’s affirmative action program.
In fact, the letter does not mention Harvard. However, since the organizations requested information concerning investigations into Harvard as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it was seen as confirmation when the DOJ said it had no records of any investigation into UNC, but did not deny that records exist for a Harvard investigation. The DOJ claimed it was legally exempt from having to release any records of its investigations into admissions practices because it could impede its efforts to enforce the law.
The organizations sought the information after news reports indicated that the DOJ was seeking lawyers interested in working on a new project on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”
The DOJ later stated that the posting sought volunteers to investigate an unresolved administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that alleged racial discrimination against Asian Americans in a university’s admissions policy and practices.
Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the DOJ’s response confirms that the DOJ has “launched an unprecedented assault on efforts to promote racial diversity in higher education.”
“We deem this investigation as a threat to diversity in the college setting,” Clarke said in an interview with Diverse.
