DOJ Continues Its Harmful Agenda to Dismantle Affirmative Action in New Findings Against Yale University

The Department of Justice has accused Yale University of illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants, as part of its harmful agenda to remove affirmative action from the college admissions process.

“The Department of Justice found Yale discriminates based on race and national origin in its undergraduate admissions process, and that race is the determinative factor in hundreds of admissions decisions each year,” the department said in a release.

The DOJ had previously filed against Harvard University, alleging that the university discriminates against Asian Americans in the college admissions process. A federal judge in 2019 ruled for Harvard, saying the university does not discriminate against Asian American applicants, a victory for supporters of affirmative action. This ruling was appealed and arguments are scheduled for next month.

The findings against Yale are the latest attempt by the Trump administration to pit marginalized groups against each other in order to end affirmative action practices in the college application process.

“This announcement is pure politics — a signal once again that the Trump administration will take extraordinary steps to protect white privilege and resort to unfounded racial attacks, right on the heels of Kamala Harris, a Black and Asian American woman, joining the top of the Democratic ticket,” Anurima Bhargava, who served as chief of the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division at DOJ during the Obama administration, said to NBC News.

Asian Americans have been long been used as a “wedge group,” to separate the Asian community from other communities of color in an effort to main white dominance in higher education. However, the Asian American community is made up of diverse subgroups all with varying access to higher education opportunities.

By lumping Asian American and white students together, the DOJ “is using Asian Americans to protect the status quo for white applicants,” Janelle Wong, a professor of American Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Maryland, said to NBC News.

In fact, public opinion polling consistently shows that nearly two-thirds of Asian Americans Support affirmative action in higher education and the workplace. The Asian American group opposing affirmative action in cases like Harvard and Yale are Chinese Americans, namely Chinese immigrants. Asian Americans, a highly diverse community of color, have historically needed affirmative action which brings greater equity and diversity to college campuses and encourages social mobility.

Under the guise of helping Asian American students, the DOJ is intent on removing affirmative action, limiting higher education spaces for wealthy, predominately white students.

“The message that this sends to the AAPI community is that the DOJ is very interested in dismantling policies that create diversity and increase access to those who have been excluded to places like Yale,” said Wong.

Read more about the model minority myth.

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