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Harvard on Trial

About 200 students, alumni, and employees of Harvard U. gathered in Harvard Square on October 14, 2018, as a lawsuit challenging the university’s use of race in admissions was about to open in federal court in Boston.
About 200 students, alumni, and employees of Harvard U. gathered in Harvard Square on October 14, 2018, as a lawsuit challenging the university’s use of race in admissions was about to open in federal court in Boston.Pat Greenhouse, The Boston Globe via Getty Images

A trial over the race-conscious admissions policy of Harvard University could have lasting implications for selective colleges across the country. The lawsuit, brought by a nonprofit group called Students for Fair Admissions, claims the university discriminates against Asian American applicants by limiting the number of those students it admits.

The case challenges a common practice among selective institutions that is meant to ensure that they admit diverse groups of students, and it is unusual because it invokes the rights of Asian American applicants instead of white ones. It is also the first case since the Trump administration took office to challenge affirmative action. Legal analysts say the issue is likely to make its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is more conservative than when it last considered the issue.

Here is detailed background on the case and coverage of the trial as it unfolded, in a federal court in Boston beginning in October 2018. The presiding judge ruled a year later.

A gate to the Harvard campus
News
A Judge Advised Harvard to Give Its Admissions Officers Training to Stop Bias. Will That Help?
By Megan Zahneis
The reach into the admissions world of training to avoid implicit bias has been limited, and some question how it could be carried out.
Harvard Yard, pictured in 2012.
News
The Nation’s Students Have Grown More Diverse. Has Harvard’s Enrollment Kept Pace?
By Ruth Hammond, Audrey Williams June
While Harvard, which won a judge’s approval of its race-conscious admissions policies, lags in its representation of black and Hispanic students, it far outpaces other four-year institutions over all in its representation of Asian Americans.
Protesters at a media conference held by Harvard lawyers following closing arguments in the Harvard-admissions trial, in November 2018 in Boston
Affirmative Action
‘Everything Is Not Sunshine’: What the Harvard Decision Means for Race-Conscious Admissions
By Nell Gluckman
The challenge, from Students for Fair Admissions, may still end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Protesters outside a Boston courthouse on the opening day of the trial between Students for Fair Admissions and Harvard University in 2018.
A Win for Diversity
3 Key Passages From the Harvard Decision
By Eric Hoover
The university’s race-conscious admissions process does not discriminate against Asian American students, Judge Allison Burroughs ruled.
Harvard Yard in winter. Both sides in a closely watched legal battle over race-conscious admissions made closing arguments in federal court in Boston on Wednesday. The judge heard allegations of discrimination — and several Orwell references.
Admissions
At One Final Hearing, Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions Squared Off. Here’s What Happened.
By Eric Hoover
Both sides in a closely watched legal battle over race-conscious admissions made closing arguments in federal court on Wednesday. The judge heard allegations of discrimination — and several Orwell references.
A law professor at the U. of California at Los Angeles (above) is suing the university system to get data on admissions and enrollment.
Admissions
Who Else Will Get Sued Over Their Admissions Policies?
By Nell Gluckman
A lawsuit filed in California on Thursday seeks admissions and enrollment data from the University of California system.
Ward Connerly (right), a U. of California regent, turns in petitions to the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters to place Proposition 209, which banned considerations of race in college admissions, on the ballot in this February 1996 photo.
Admissions
Before Harvard, Asian-Americans Were Thrust Into U. of California’s Acrimonious Affirmative-Action Debate
By Jack Stripling
Attacks on “academic whackos,” public floggings, and impugned motives have all been a part of the university’s tortured debate over whether race-conscious admissions disadvantage Asian applicants.
A lecture at Harvard U., which treated a trial over race-conscious admissions as if it was an all-out attack on the use of race in admissions everywhere.
From the Archives
Both Sides at Harvard Trial Agree on One Thing: The ‘Wolf of Racial Bias’ Is at the Door
By Eric Hoover
Students for Fair Admissions, which alleges that Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants, forced the university to reveal the inner workings of its admissions process. But what did all the evidence add up to?
Demonstrators protest Harvard’s admissions policy outside the federal courthouse in Boston on the trial’s opening day three weeks ago. Now that the trial is over, only one person’s opinion matters: the judge.
Admissions
Harvard’s Admissions Process Was Just Dissected in Federal Court. How Did It Hold Up?
By Nell Gluckman
It’s inevitably awkward to explain the inner workings of a long-secret system, but especially so for the gatekeepers of an elite university. Opinions vary among observers, but now only one matters: the judge’s.
Marlyn McGrath, Harvard College’s director of admissions, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston last week. The plaintiff in the lawsuit questioned her on Thursday about recently disclosed guidelines for considering race in admissions.
Admissions
As Harvard Trial Winds Down, Admissions Director Takes the Stand — Again
By Eric Hoover
The plaintiff in a lawsuit accusing the university of bias against Asian-American applicants wanted to question the official about recently disclosed guidelines for considering race in admissions.
A gateway on the Harvard campus. On Wednesday, David Card, a Berkeley economist, continued his defense of the university’s admissions process. Then he got an earful of tough questions from a lawyer who says it discriminates against Asian-American applicants.
Admissions
Harvard’s Star Witness Testified All Day. Here Are 4 Moments That Mattered.
By Eric Hoover
David Card, a Berkeley economist, on Wednesday continued his defense of Harvard’s admissions process. Then he got an earful of tough questions from a lawyer who says the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants.
David Card, an economist at the U. of California at Berkeley, testified on Monday in the trial over Harvard’s treatment of Asian-American applicants in admissions. He called another economist’s methods “completely nonsensical.”
Admissions
Dueling Economists: Rival Analyses of Harvard’s Admissions Process Emerge at Trial
By Eric Hoover
In the legal battle over the university’s treatment of Asian-American applicants, one researcher calls another’s methods “completely nonsensical.”
Protesters scuffled during a rally in Boston’s Copley Square on October 14, 2018, the day before a trial over Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policy opened.
Admissions
At Harvard Trial, Statistics Give Way to Personal Stories About Diversity
By Eric Hoover
Current and former students on Monday described why race matters in admissions.
About 200 students, alumni, and employees of Harvard U. gathered in Harvard Square on October 14, 2018, as a lawsuit challenging the university’s use of race in admissions was about to open in federal court in Boston.
Admissions
Harvard Senior Who Testified at Admissions Trial Says Many Asian-American Students Support Affirmative Action
By Nell Gluckman
Thang Q. Diep, a student who immigrated from Vietnam, explains why he got involved in the case, and says the plaintiff is harboring “an ulterior motive.”
In the midst of a trial over alleged bias against Asian-American applicants, Harvard’s revised guidelines for admissions officials became public.
Admissions
What’s New in Harvard’s Admissions Procedures: Explicit Instructions on Race
By Nell Gluckman
In the midst of a trial over alleged bias against Asian-American applicants, the university’s revised guidelines for admissions officials became public.
Peter Arcidiacono, an economist at Duke U., testified on Thursday that “there is a penalty against Asian-American applicants” at Harvard.
Admissions
The Lawsuit Against Harvard Admissions Turns Into a Courtroom Battle of Economists
By Nell Gluckman
A scholar hired by the group that sued Harvard, claiming it discriminates against Asian-American applicants, testified at the trial on Thursday. The university’s economist disputes his findings.
Admissions
The Case Against Harvard Relies on This Analysis. But the University Says It’s Deeply Flawed.
By Cailin Crowe
An economist and expert for Students for Fair Admissions put together a report that says Harvard’s admissions process discriminates against Asian-American applicants. An expert for Harvard says it’s not that simple.
Annenberg Hall at Harvard.
Admissions
Harvard Admissions Officials Are Grilled on How They Use Race in Admissions
By Nell Gluckman
In testimony on Wednesday, the halfway point of the three-week trial, three officials testified that they do consider race, but it is never a negative factor for applicants.
Admissions
Harvard’s Racial Diversity Is on Trial. But What Do We Know About Its Economic Diversity?
By Audrey Williams June
Data showing how the university’s admissions process favors wealthy students is stark. But Harvard is by no means an outlier among its peer institutions.
Michael Smith, who stepped down this past summer as dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was among the university officials who testified on Tuesday. However the judge rules, both sides seem to be preparing for an appeal.
Admissions
Practice Mandated by Supreme Court Is Focus of Testimony in Harvard Admissions Trial
By Nell Gluckman
However the judge rules, both sides seem to be preparing for an appeal in a lawsuit challenging the university’s admissions process.
William Fitzsimmons, who grew up working-class near Boston, has been dean of admissions at Harvard for 32 years. “He is honorable and very attentive to others," says a longtime colleague, "but he always puts his institution first.”
Admissions
Harvard Trial Reveals What Admissions Deans Are Made Of: Contradictions
By Eric Hoover
William Fitzsimmons’ testimony revealed a lot about how the university selects applicants. It also revealed something about the dean — and the complex job he has held for 32 years.
As a trial in Boston entered its second week, a higher-education expert testified that Harvard U. could achieve its desired racial diversity without considering race in admissions.
Admissions
Harvard Is Challenged on Whether Socioeconomic Status Should Replace Race as Admissions Factor
By Nell Gluckman
As a trial in Boston entered its second week, a higher-education expert testified that the university could achieve its desired racial diversity without considering race in admissions.
Lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions, the organization suing Harvard, have said that “affirmative action is not on trial,” but in parts of their argument on Friday they seemed to be making a case against any consideration of race in admissions.
Admissions
Harvard Officials, Accused of Racial Bias, Defend Their Admissions Policy
By Nell Gluckman
After the first week of a trial in which the university’s use of race in admissions decisions has been under attack, the strategies of each side are starting to come into focus.
Admissions officials at Harvard defended their process in the fourth day of a trial in which the university has been accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.
Admissions
At Harvard Trial, a Dissection of Student Applications and Some Testy Exchanges
By Nell Gluckman
Admissions officials defended their process in the fourth day of a trial in which the university has been accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.
A once-confidential document was made public in a lawsuit challenging the university’s race-conscious admissions process.
Admissions
3 Takeaways From Harvard’s Alumni Interview Handbook
By Cailin Crowe
The document, made public in a lawsuit challenging the university’s race-conscious admissions process, suggests that interviewers steer clear of questions about test scores.
The third day of testimony in a trial challenging Harvard’s admissions policies revealed new details about the once-secretive process. The university has been accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.
Admissions
How Harvard’s Admissions Office Courts Donors and Low-Income Students
By Nell Gluckman
The third day of testimony in a trial challenging the university’s admissions policies revealed new details about the once-secretive process. Harvard has been accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.
William Fitzsimmons, who has led Harvard’s admissions program for more than 30 years, was questioned on Tuesday by lawyers in a case that is challenging the university’s race-conscious policy.
Admissions
At Harvard Admissions Trial, a Dean Defends Decades of His Work
By Nell Gluckman
William R. Fitzsimmons, who has led the university’s admissions program for more than 30 years, was questioned on Tuesday by lawyers in a case that is challenging Harvard’s race-conscious policy.
Admissions
Harvard Admissions Trial Opens With Arguments Focused on Diversity
By Nell Gluckman
In a packed courtroom, the lawyer representing critics of the university’s undergraduate admissions policy said, “Diversity is not on trial here.” Harvard’s lawyer suggested that without such a policy, the courtroom would not be as diverse as it is.
The latest front in the fight over affirmative action opens in a federal courtroom in Boston and could have lasting implications for colleges nationwide.
Admissions
Harvard’s Race-Conscious Admissions Policy Goes on Trial on Monday. Here’s What to Expect.
By Nell Gluckman
The latest front in the fight over affirmative action opens in a federal courtroom in Boston and could have lasting implications for colleges nationwide.
Harvard U.
Admissions
Will Students Testify in the Case Against Harvard’s Race-Conscious Admissions Procedures?
By Nell Gluckman
Some students and alumni are worried that their voices will be left out of the high-profile trial.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says Harvard has not conducted “its admissions policy without racial discrimination,” siding with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought on behalf of Asian-American students who had sought admission to the university.
News
Justice Dept. Slams Harvard Admissions in Affirmative-Action Filing
By Lindsay Ellis
The department’s support for the plaintiffs was not unexpected in a debate that has flared during Donald Trump’s presidency.
A lawsuit accusing Harvard of discriminating against Asian-American applicants reached a pivotal point on Friday, when previously confidential documents describing the university’s admissions process were revealed.
News
In Court Battle Over Harvard Admissions, Plaintiffs Allege University Ignored ‘Negative Effects’ on Asian-Americans
By Eric Hoover
A lawsuit accusing the university of discriminating against Asian-American applicants reached a pivotal point on Friday, when previously confidential documents describing Harvard’s admissions process were revealed.
The U.S. Justice Department, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions (shown with President Trump, left), said in a leaked memo that it was seeking lawyers to conduct “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”
News
Race-Conscious Admissions Returns to the Spotlight
Barely a year after the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to issue its final word on this form of affirmative action, the issue is back, following a Justice Department memo that seemed to promise Trump-administration investigations of colleges. Here’s all of The Chronicle’s coverage.
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