Civil Rights Groups File Brief in Support of Race Conscious Admissions at Harvard

"The national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Boston-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), and pro bono counsel, Arnold & Porter, today filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to support the motion for summary judgement in the lawsuit challenging Harvard’s race-conscious holistic admissions policy (Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard).

The coalition is participating as special “amicus plus” status and represents a cohort of racially diverse applicants, current students, and alumni at Harvard College including African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian American students.

“Forty years of precedent affirms the constitutionality of a university’s limited use of race in college admissions,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Harvard’s holistic, individualized consideration of race addresses the pervasive inequalities that persist across our society. Any efforts to reverse this approach is a threat to colleges and universities nationwide.”

“The consideration of race is an important aspect of a university's holistic review process and is essential in building a dynamic learning environment,” said Nicole Ochi, supervising attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles. "Despite what Edward Blum and Students for Fair Admissions claim, Asian Americans benefit from race-conscious holistic review; in fact, the majority of Asian Americans support affirmative action policies. Asian Americans Advancing Justice will not stand for our communities being used as a cover to end affirmative action, which would have devastating effects on all communities of color -- including Asian Americans.”..."

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