A group of highly selective universities has defended Harvard University’s race-conscious admissions process by filing an amicus brief in the United States District Court on Monday, the Boston Globe reported.
This response comes after Harvard was sued by the Students for Fair Admission organization for allegedly being discriminatory in a way that unfairly limits the number of qualified Asian American applicants the university admits. The schools say they believe that a race-conscious admissions process helps create a diverse campus environment and not being able use race as a factor would violate their academic freedom.
The 16 participating universities include Brown University, Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis and Yale University.
In addition to the universities, Harvard alumni and student organizations, as well as trade groups representing college leaders, also came to Harvard’s defense, according to the Globe.
