Last week, the U.S. Department of Education dismissed an affirmative action complaint that was brought against Harvard University in May.
The Asian American Coalition, made up of more than 60 Harvard students, had filed the complaint saying that the university utilizes racial quotas that unfairly discriminate against Asian American students.
Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. filed a similar suit against Harvard in November; the Department of Education dropped the Asian American Coalition’s complaint because of the pending litigation.
In a press release following news of the dismissal, Harvard said that over the last decade, the percentage of undergraduate Asian American students at the university has risen from 17.6 percent to 21 percent.
“Harvard College strongly believes that a class that is diverse on multiple dimensions, including on race and ethnicity, transforms the educational experience of students from every background and prepares our graduates for an increasingly pluralistic world,” the statement read.
According to the university’s admissions statistics, of the 2,081 students admitted to the class of 2019, 21.3 percent are Asian American, 10.6 percent African American, 11.4 percent Hispanic, and 1.6 percent Native American or Pacific Islander.
