The U.S. Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard’s legacy and donor admissions preferences, according to a letter released by Lawyers for Civil Rights Tuesday morning.
“(The Office of Civil Rights) is opening the following issue for investigation: Whether the University discriminates on the basis of race by using donor and legacy preferences in its undergraduate admissions process in violation of Title VI and its implementing regulations,” said Ramzi Ajami, Regional Director of DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
The investigation comes in response to a complaint filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights on behalf of the Chica Project, African Community Economic Development of New England and Greater Boston Latino Network in early July.
Filed on the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling against Harvard and UNC’s affirmative action policies, the complaint alleges that Harvard’s admissions preference for legacy and donor-related applicants systemically disadvantage students of color and urges the department to declare the practices illegal.
At Harvard, the LCR complaint outlines, 70% of donor-related and legacy applicants are white. Donor-related applicants were nearly 7 times more likely to be admitted than non-donor-related applicants in a sample from 2014-2019, LCR said, and legacies were nearly 6 times more likely to be admitted.
“(O)pening the complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination on the merits of the complaint,” the OCR letter states, noting they are a “neutral fact-finder.”
The office did not give any indication of the timeline of the investigation, saying they “will ensure that its investigation is legally sufficient and fully responds to the allegation.”
“The significance of opening investigation should not be overstated,” said LCR lawyer Michael Kippins at a press conference Tuesday. “It cannot be overstated. It shows that the Office for Civil Rights is taking this seriously.”