Harvard’s Affirmative Action Case and The Case for Diversity in Higher Education
On June 12, 2018, then President of Harvard College Drew Faust sent an email to Harvard students titled ‘Defending Diversity.’ In it, Faust outlined how a lawsuit brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) was moving forward in the courts and media. SFFA, along with 60 Asian-American organizations, claims that Harvard’s affirmative action practices discriminate against Asian-American applicants. Through this lawsuit, SFFA seeks to dismantle and gut the affirmative action practices that Harvard uses to achieve a diverse academic setting. The same organization has brought identical lawsuits with white plaintiffs. In the 2012 Fisher V. University of Texas case, a University of Texas applicant with average grades and test scores claimed that she had been denied admission because she was white. The Harvard lawsuit continues SFFA’s attempt to accomplish what they have previously failed to do: reverse affirmative action. SFFA’s stance on affirmative action echoes that of the Trump Administration, which recently […]
The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities. The Lawyers’ Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar's leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity - work that continues to be vital today.