In a statement, DOJ Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said, “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.”
He added, “In 1890, Frederick Douglass explained that the ‘business of government is to hold its broad shield overall and to see that every American citizen is alike and equally protected in his civil and personal rights.’ The Department of Justice agrees and will continue to fight for the civil rights of all people throughout our nation.”
The Justice Department demanded Yale to stop using race or national origin in its upcoming 2020-2021 undergraduate admissions cycle and must voluntarily comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“If Yale proposes to consider race or national origin in future admissions cycles, it must first submit to the Department of Justice a plan demonstrating its proposal is narrowly tailored as required by law, including by identifying a date for the end of race discrimination,” according to the Justice Department.
Yale said the DOJ’s allegation is “baseless”
In response to the DOJ, Yale President Peter Salovey said, “The department’s allegation is baseless. Given our university’s commitment to complying with federal law, I am dismayed that the DOJ inexplicably rushed to conclude its investigation without conducting a fully informed analysis, which would have shown that Yale’s practices absolutely comply with decades of Supreme Court precedent.”
