The Trump administration on Tuesday will reportedly nullify Obama-era guidelines promoting racial preferences in college admissions to boost campus diversity.
Released by the Department of Education and Department of Justice under then-president Barack Obama, the guidelines presented “legal recommendations” for colleges to facilitate more diverse educational environments by incorporating race as a factor in the application process.
“Trump administration officials plan to argue that the documents, published in 2011 and 2016, go beyond Supreme Court precedent on the issue and mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative action are simpler to achieve than what the law allows,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
U.S. officials are rescinding the guidelines as the Justice Department probes possible illegalities in Harvard University’s applications process with respect to Asian-Americans. Investigators are looking into whether the ivy-league institution held the group to higher admission standards.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by watchdog group American Oversight revealed Justice Department officials were probing Harvard Univerity over the alleged practice, as reported by Breitbart News in October 2017.
“Many Asian-American students who have almost perfect SAT scores, top 1 percent GPAs, plus significant awards or leadership positions in various extracurricular activities have been rejected by Harvard University and other Ivy League Colleges while similarly situated applicants of other races have been admitted,” said the complaint.