Indian American groups allege discrimination by Yale, 2 others

​New York: A coalition of more than 130 Asian- American organisations, including two Indian-American groups, have sought an investigation into admission practices of the prestigious Yale University and two other Ivy League institutions, alleging that they discriminate against students from the community on racial grounds.

Indian-American groups - the American Society of Engineers of National Capital Chapter and the Global Organisation of Los Angeles Chapter - have joined over 130 Asian-American groups and got the complaint filed yesterday by Asian-American Coalition for Education (AACE) group against Yale, Brown University and Dartmouth College with the US Departments of Education and Justice.

The complaint alleges that the three institutions are "engaged in unlawful discrimination against Asian-American applicants to their colleges" and participate in a "covert and insidious scheme to enforce race-based quotas in college admissions" in violation of the US Constitution.

"Although discrimination by elite colleges against Asian- American students is widespread, AACE and the joining organisations are bringing this complaint against the three named Ivy League Colleges because Brown University and Dartmouth College have maintained the lowest admission rates for Asian-American students, while Yale University not only maintains a relatively low admission rate for Asian-American applicants, but also engages in destroying admissions records at its law school," the complaint said.

In May last year, a similar complaint was filed against Harvard University on behalf of Asian-American students by a coalition of 64 groups alleging that the Ivy League institution discriminated against Asian-American applicants in its admissions process and "unfairly" rejected well-qualified students because of their race.

Four Indian-American groups were part of the coalition which had complained to the Office for Civil Rights in the US Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The AACE compliant cited a 2012 complaint filed by an Indian-American student against Harvard and Princeton and said there have been prior attempts to hold Ivy League colleges and other elite institutions accountable for their "illegal discrimination" against Asian-American applicants.

The complaint further alleged the Asian-American college- age population in the US has grown from 2.5 per cent in 1995 to 5.1 per cent in 2011. In the same period, the percentage of Asian-Americans at Yale and most other Ivy League colleges has declined because of "negative stereotyping coupled with racial quotas and caps, maintained by racially differentiated standards for admission that severely burden Asian-American applicants".

The coalition, in its largest-ever joint action against Ivy League universities' alleged discrimination, called on the Departments of Education to recognise the discrimination complaint as a "systemic problem" and to immediately launch an "objective" investigation into the matter.

The complaint asked the federal departments to ensure Yale, Brown and Dartmouth College stop using stereotypes, racial quotas, racially-differentiated admission standards, racial biases and other discriminatory means in evaluating Asian-American applicants during the admission process and to take all necessary measures to ensure that the institutions do not again discriminate against applicants of any race.

"Today, we want to tell Ivy League schools and other colleges: Asian-American communities are going to continue our fight, until you totally stop your unlawful discrimination against our children!," said YuKong Zhao, President of AACE. "Shockingly, many universities – including Ivy League universities even today are violating the civil rights of Asian-American applicants on a continuous and systematic basis," AACE alleged in a statement.

Since 2006, Asian-American students and organisations have filed administrative complaints and lawsuits against Ivy League universities. However, the US government has done nothing to stop this patently unconstitutional discrimination, it said. There is widespread disappointment in Asian-American communities by mishandling of Asian-American complaints by the Office for Civil Rights, Department of Education, Zhao said.

"To rebuild the trust, AACE strongly urges the Department of Education and Department of Justice to set up oversight committees including delegates from AACE representing the Asian-American community to demonstrate to all the objectivity and rigour of their investigations into the complaint of discrimination by Yale, Brown and Dartmouth," he said.

Expressing frustration over a lack of support by the US government for Asian-American equal education rights, AACE requested the US Supreme Court to issue a total ban on racial discrimination in college admissions in its upcoming ruling of Fisher versus University of Texas case.

Congressman Ed Royce, student representative Jian Li and co-complainant representative Dr Ajay Kothari also delivered supportive speeches in the news conference. Receiving "Courage Award", Li was also recognised by AACE for his courageous act of filing the first Complaint against Ivy League schools in 2006.