The Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sent letters Tuesday to Yale, Princeton and Duke questioning the universities’ compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action and threatening litigation.
The letters said SFFA is “gravely concerned that these schools are not complying” with the June 2023 landmark Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, in which the Court ruled race-based admission practices to be unconstitutional. Suspicions were raised by many over the admissions policies of the elite universities after the student demographics for the class of 2028 revealed little change compared to the previous year when the schools followed affirmative action policies.
Duke in particular reported a 6% decrease in Asian enrollment this academic year compared to last year despite “explicitly [giving] racial preferences to African Americans and Hispanics” in 2023. Yale likewise reported a 6% decrease and Princeton a 2.2 percentage % decrease with the demographic.
“You told the Supreme Court that, without explicit racial preferences, it would be impossible to ‘obtain the diverse student body’ that you obtained in the past,” SFFA wrote in its letter to Duke. “[B]ased on SFFA’s extensive experience, your racial numbers are not possible under true race neutrality.”
In its 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court sided with SFFA’s argument that the use of racial preferences in college admissions violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and penalized Asian American applicants.
“Please explain this discrepancy, including any new, substantial race-neutral alternatives that you adopted in response to Harvard,” SFFA concluded in each of the letters. “Without that information, SFFA will conclude that you are circumventing the Supreme Court’s decision. SFFA is prepared to enforce Harvard against you through litigation. You are now on notice. Preserve all potentially relevant documents and communications.”
“SFFA hopes these colleges will provide us and the public with specific, granular details about their new admissions policies,” Edward Blum, president of SFFA, said in a statement. “Litigation is our last option, but one we will not avoid.”
Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) had large increases in Asian enrollment for the 2024 incoming class, with the share of Asian students going from 29% to 33% and 41% to 47%, respectively, compared to 2023. At Brown, the share of white students decreased from 46% to 43%, and both universities had decreases in black and Hispanic students of 6% and 4%, respectively, at Brown, and an 8% and 4% decrease at MIT.
Following the court decision, Harvard had an increase of Asian enrollment increased to 37%, according to the letter.
Duke, Princeton and Yale did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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