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A Boston nonprofit, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), filed a lawsuit on behalf of multiple Black and Latinx community groups on Monday, alleging that legacy admissions at Harvard University violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The parties being represented in the lawsuit — the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England, and the Greater Boston Latino Network — have requested that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights open an investigation into the disparate impact of Harvard’s use of donor and legacy preferences. They have also called for officials to declare such admissions a violation of Title VI and to order Harvard to end the practice.
“Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations?” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, LCR’s executive director. “Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit, and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.”
The complaint draws on data that came to light amid the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of affirmative action last week, which effectively curtailed colleges’ ability to consider race in their admissions processes, likely making it harder for thousands of marginalized students to access higher education.
