Written by Namya Saraf, a grade 11 student.

College admission is an integral process as it decides the future of several students across the globe. These decisions, in my opinion, are taken after deliberating on the applications and are not unconstitutional.

Harvard has been challenged by Students for Fair admissions (SFFA), a non-profit membership group with over 20,000 members who believe that racial classifications and preferences in college admissions are unfair and unnecessary. A student’s race or ethnicity should not affect the decision-making process. In the lawsuit against Harvard, the group has said that they “have employed and are employing racially and ethnically discriminatory policies and procedures in administering the undergraduate admissions program at Harvard college” which is in violation of the Civil Rights act of 1964.

Last year the Justice Department had said that Yale University had illegally discriminated against Asian Americans and white applicants inthe admissions process – this was a violation of certain provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The investigation was launched after a complaint was filed by Asian American groups concerning Yale’s conduct.

Harvard and Yale have denied these allegations and has called them “baseless”. The lawsuit filed by Students for Fair Admissions was backed by the Trump administration. The Biden administration dropped the case against Yale as the Justice Department withdrew it but the private group SFFA vows to sue the university. The last time affirmative action was tried in the Supreme Court was Fisher vs University of Texas in 2016. These lawsuits were few of several in the courts on the issue of affirmative action.

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