Students for Fair Admissions Drops Affirmative Action Lawsuit Against Yale

The lawsuit against Yale was similar to those against Harvard and UNC, but stemmed from a challenge by the Trump administration that SFFA fought to keep alive in court. The The Trump administration filed the lawsuit in the following October 2020 a two-year investigation to the Ivy League institution’s admission practices. It was the Trump administration’s strongest move to crack down on the use of race in college admissions, and the Education Department and Justice Department investigation found that Yale discriminated against applicants asian americans

Yale’s response: “We are pleased that, after hearing Yale’s description of the steps we will take to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling, SFFA has decided to dismiss its case against Yale,” the university said in a statement.

“Yale’s priorities remain unchanged: fully complying with the law, continuing to support a diverse and inclusive community, and maintaining a world-class admissions process that considers each applicant as an individual. We are confident that we can preserve these priorities in the future”.

Yale Admissions Changes: The joint stipulation filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut outlined changes the university agreed to implement in light of the Supreme Court case and voluntary dismissal. SFFA and Yale, according to the document, discussed the institution’s response to the Supreme Court case, and Yale provided “supporting documentation” of its changes before the dismissal. Here’s a summary of the changes:

– Yale said it has updated its training materials to make clear that race cannot be used as a factor in admissions decisions.

— The university agreed to take “technological steps” to ensure that no one involved in admissions decisions has access to race data or a race “checkbox” at any time during the admissions review cycle .

— Yale’s admissions office also agreed not to release any reports during the review cycle that provided aggregate data on the racial makeup of admitted students.

— Nor will race be taken into account when calculating or granting financial aid at Yale.