Federal Court Finds in Favor of Harvard in Admissions Case

On September 20, 2019, a federal judge in Boston ruled that Harvard’s admissions policies and practices do not discriminate against Asian American applicants.  The ruling followed after years of litigation leading up to a three-week bench trial in the fall of 2018.

The lawsuit was filed by Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFFA), an organization that alleged that Harvard intentionally discriminated against Asian American applicants in the undergraduate admissions process, impermissibly used race as a predominant factor in admissions decisions, used racial balancing, and considered the race of applicants without first exhausting race-neutral alternatives. 

Although the court concluded that Harvard's admissions approach was “not perfect,” it stated that it “will not dismantle a very fine admissions program that passes constitutional muster, solely because it could do better.”  The court found no evidence of a pattern of stereotyping Asian American applicants or that Harvard used race as anything more than a “plus” factor in its admissions decisions.  The court also accepted Harvard’s analysis that no workable, race-neutral alternative could maintain the same level of diversity and quality in the undergraduate body.

In her conclusion, the judge noted that “For purposes of this case, at least for now, ensuring diversity at Harvard relies, in part, on race conscious admissions. Harvard’s admission program passes constitutional muster in that it satisfies the dictates of strict scrutiny. The students who are admitted to Harvard and choose to attend will live and learn surrounded by all sorts of people, with all sorts of experiences, beliefs and talents. They will have the opportunity to know and understand one another beyond race, as whole individuals with unique histories and experiences.” SFFA has said it plans to appeal the decision. A copy of the decision can be found here.

MIT, together with 15 other universities, filed an amicus brief affirming the importance of diversity to our academic missions and the need to ensure that universities can employ holistic admissions processes that use race as one of many factors where they meet the requirements of existing federal law. An article on MIT’s amicus brief and a link to the amicus brief can be found here.