An alliance group of Asian American groups have reportedly lodged a complaint against Harvard University, arguing that the school, along with other Ivy League institutions, was using racial quotas to admit students other than those of Asian origin, including Indians.
More than 60 Chinese, Indian, Korean and Pakistani groups approached the civil rights offices at the Justice and Education departments to register a complaint. The groups called for a probe and said that the institutions needed to stop using racial quotas or racial balancing in admission, reported Fox News.
Chunyan Li, a professor and civil rights activist, said that the group was seeking "equal treatment" regardless of race, adding that universities should use income rather than race in affirmative action policies.
Yukong Zhao, who organized the groups for Friday's complaint, asked Harvard to open its admission books to prove that Asians were not purposefully being put at a disadvantage. "We want to help this country move forward," Zhao said.
Harvard however, has maintained that its admission policy was "fully compliant" with federal law. Officials said that the number of Asian students admitted went up from 17.6 percent to 21 percent in the last decade.
Robert Iuliano, Harvard's general counsel said that they will defend Harvard's and other universities' rights to continue to seek the educational benefits that come from a class that is diverse on multiple dimensions.
He also pointed to the Super Court's landmark 1978 decision in Regents of University of California vs. Bakke, which said that Harvard had a "legally sound approach" to admissions.