Updated (11/21/2017, 3:45 p.m.) with a statement from Harvard.
The U.S. Justice Department has accused Harvard University of failing to cooperate with its investigation of the university’s admissions policies, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In a letter to Harvard’s lawyers, the department told the university it had failed to comply with a November 2 deadline to provide documents regarding its admissions policies, the Journal reports. The institution is being investigated under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If the university does not comply by the department’s new deadline, of December 1, the department plans to sue the institution.
The department’s investigation of Harvard’s admissions practices stems from a complaint, filed in 2015, by 64 Asian-American groups, which say Harvard systematically discriminates against Asian-American applicants. The department posted in early August a personnel listing seeking more lawyers to help investigate questions of discrimination in admissions that “the prior administration left unresolved,” a spokeswoman for the department said at the time.
For many observers, news that the Justice Department, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would take a fresh look at affirmative action and race-conscious admissions policies came as no surprise. Still, some saw it as another sign that the Trump administration was scaling back civil-rights protections.
“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-based discrimination,” the spokeswoman said in August. She added that the department had not issued any policy related to university admissions in general.
For its part, Harvard has maintained that its admissions policies are “fully compliant” with federal law.
According to the Journal, Seth Waxman, a partner at the law firm representing the university, said the department’s investigation was “outside ordinary practice.” The response to the complaint, he argued in a letter to the department, would not meet the standard of “prompt” action.
In a statement the university said it aimed to cooperate with the department while protecting students’ privacy as well as possible. “As we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice,” the statement said, “the university will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI.”
Adam Harris is a breaking-news reporter. Follow him on Twitter @AdamHSays or email him at adam.harris@chronicle.com.
