U.S. Justice Department says Yale illegally discriminates against Asians, whites

Yale University illegally discriminates against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process in violation of U.S. civil rights law, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The findings are the result of a two-year investigation in response to a complaint by Asian American groups concerning Yale's conduct, the department said in a statement.

The department said it was prepared to file a lawsuit against Yale if the school, in New Haven, Connecticut, did not take "remedial measures." A lawyer for Yale did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department said in a press release that although the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed race to be considered in college admissions in limited circumstances, "Yale's use of race is anything but limited." The elite Ivy League school "uses race at multiple steps of its admissions process resulting in a multiplied effect of race on an applicant's likelihood of admission," the Justice Department said.