Appeals court backs Harvard in race-bias case

A US court on Thursday ruled in favor of Harvard University in an affirmative action case brought by a group representing Asian Americans.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that the elite university's "limited use of race in its admissions process in order to achieve diversity is consistent with the requirements of Supreme Court precedent".

The plaintiff, a group called Students for Fair Admissions, or SFFA, sued Harvard in 2014, alleging the school intentionally discriminated against Asian-American applicants by holding them to a higher standard in undergraduate admissions.

The group focused its argument on a "personal" score in addition to academic and extracurricular ratings. They said the rating process allowed admissions officials to disadvantage Asian Americans by enhancing the prospects of black and Hispanic applicants.

The judges dismissed the SFFA's claim, saying it wasn't supported by statistical evidence.

"The nature of Harvard's admissions process, as the district court recognized, offset any risk of bias.... An applicant must secure a majority of votes at a full-body admissions committee meeting with forty admissions officers to be admitted to Harvard, which mitigates the risk that any individual officer's bias or stereotyping would affect Harvard's admissions process," wrote the judges in a 104-page opinion.

'Entirely objective criteria'

They also said: "There is no requirement that universities use entirely objective criteria when considering race to admit applicants."

The SFFA had argued that Harvard used quotas for Asian-American applicants, but the appellate court said that variances in admission rates for Asian-American, black and Hispanic applicants disproves such an allegation.

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow praised the court's decision.

"The consideration of race, alongside many other factors, helps us achieve our goal of creating a student body that enriches the education of every student," he said.

In February, the US Justice Department filed an amicus brief in support of the SFFA, saying: "Harvard's expansive use of race in its admissions process violates federal civil-rights law and Supreme Court precedent".

Edward Blum, a conservative legal activist and president of the SFFA, said the decision will be appealed.