[August 15, 2020] There is much to be said about the evils of racial discrimination. It helps very few and hurts many, it generates animosity, and it fosters hate. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice notified Yale University of results from a two-year-long investigation. The DOJ findings were that Yale illegally discriminates against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process.
It is noteworthy that any university receiving taxpayer funding must comply fully with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a cornerstone civil-rights law. The law is clear; discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance is forbidden.
“There is no such thing as a nice form of race discrimination … Unlawfully dividing Americans into racial and ethnic blocs fosters stereotypes, bitterness, and division. It is past time for American institutions to recognize that all people should be treated with decency and respect and without unlawful regard to the color of their skin.” – Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division
It is unclear to me at this point whether the DOJ has brought a lawsuit against Yale University. It has, however, issued a formal notice of violation and invited Yale’s voluntary compliance. My prediction is that they will not comply. Yale’s leadership has fought this action for years. Yale has continued their policy of blatant racial discrimination for decades and often bragged about their efforts publically.
The U.S. Supreme Court has muddied the waters regarding applicable constitutional and statutory provisions and thus left institutions like Yale free to flout the law. At Yale and many institutions of higher learning, racial discrimination goes under the name of affirmative action.
A copy of the DOJ letter to Yale is posted here (see link).
Nonetheless, we can expect Yale to suffer no severe backlash from the American public over the next few years as they waste money fighting to continue racial discrimination. I further predict that Yale will play the race and victimization card, and neither changes their admissions practices nor their stance on discrimination. I bring this up because Yale’s leadership has been given an excellent opportunity to do something good.
The question for Yale’s leadership is whether they will accept the challenge to do the right thing and follow civil-rights law or will they fight it. My firm belief is that they will fight it.
Excellent news that Yale got hit by the DOJ. And just imagine the whining going on in the senior mgt boardrooms at Yale about how they are being told to stop racial discrimination when they are “working so hard” to stop racial discrimination.
Racial preferences need to end. For our most competitive colleges especially, there are better means to produce a diverse student body than race-based affirmative action.
Right! Thank you Max for a clear compelling statement. A university is more than the sum of its ethnic parts. It is comprised of individuals — some black, white, Asian and Hispanic — who should be admitted or rejected without their race or ethnic heritage making any difference.
The Justice Department confirmed last week that it is examining claims of racial discrimination against Asian Americans in university admissions. It is possible that this will result in investigations and lawsuits targeting our nation’s most competitive schools.
From an opinin piece of The Washington Post from 2017. Still applies today.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harvards-discrimination-against-asian-americans-must-end/2017/08/08/446ebd6a-7bb1-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html
It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has allowed universities to grant preferences to applicants based on race and ethnicity.
Purposeful quotas and racial balancing are strictly prohibited. And, of course, diversity can never be a justification for invidious discrimination.
Since racial and ethnic preferences were introduced in the 1970s, they have been divisive. They stigmatize recipients, punish better-qualified individuals and pit Americans against one another. Most Americans understand this. A 2016 Gallup Poll shows that nearly 7 in 10 Americans (including 57 percent of African Americans) believe that a student’s race should not be a factor in college admissions.
Kick ’em in the butt again and again until they get the point that racial discrimination is against the law.
Make them pay big money and change their ways or get off the taxpayer dole.
As a private school, I also believe they are not allowed to use race as the determining factor. Not sure about that but they shouldn’t regardless. ?
You mean my degree in Grievance Studies is not worth anything? I’ve been robbed. /sarc off
Once again, Gen. Satterfield, you are on target with this article and I also think Yale will fight the issue. Up next is Harvard.
Good point and I’m also looking forward to the case against Harvard. Just one more nail in the overpriced, undervalued degree from those Ivy League schools.
If you are a politician today, please please please make your view public on this issue. Its not going away and we need your position on record. Are you or are you not a racist? Let us know now before it is time to vote.
“There is no such thing as a nice form of race discrimination,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said in a statement. Great comment. Racial discrimination is evil, pure and simple.
Yet, so many leftists insist that is okay in some cases and not in other. A logical slippery slope.
Yale’s race discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants, including in particular Asian American and White applicants. Pow! They just got hit by a DOJ Mack Truck.
Yes, and we get to witness it. This has been coming for a long time and is way overdue IMO. I think they should be hammered mercilessly. I also believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should be asked about it. Those two are FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION if it benefits blacks. But are for it if whites and Asians are on the wrong end of the stick. You can’t have it both ways unless you are mentally warped or just a liar.
There should be a legal strategy designed to put pressure on universities to eliminate the use of race-conscious admissions policies. I know of no other way. The universities will not change otherwise.
If student plaintiffs file cases, it’s not going to stop the cases from going forward, because there are real issues here, and they haven’t been adequately resolved.
In the Harvard case, the Justice Department weighed in to argue that Harvard had violated the law by using a subjective personal rating system and said the school couldn’t defend its use of race as a component in admissions decisions to promote diversity. In supporting the plaintiffs, the U.S. claimed that Harvard’s admissions process was “infected with racial bias” and that public funds, which the college draws, shouldn’t be used to “finance the evil of private prejudice.”
https://time.com/5879459/yale-discrimination-admissions-justice-department/
For those that are so much against “systemic racism” we have a simple, blatant case of it at Yale Univ., and yet those same people defend Yale. What’s up with that. I think the psychologists call this cognitive dissonance. Or maybe something else. But doing this is crazy no matter how you look at it.
I will be interested in hearing how they use verbal gymnastics to say they are not discriminating. Pass the popcorn!
“Pass the Popcorn” Yale Discrimination style !!!!! Loving this happen. Everyone knows all the big league schools discriminate based on race. Has been happening for decades. They do it openly and brazenly. None ever expected to be help accountable.
Excellent point and one being made only on Fox News. The rest of the media has largely ignored this.
Yes, and I don’t think much will come of it. Yale has hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank.
… and they can use it as a war chest to fight off the DOJ. Their shortterm tactic will be to delay until after the presidential election in the hopes that Joe Biden wins and orders the DOJ to stop enforcing selective discrimination statues of Title VI.