Harvard and UNC sued for limiting admissions of Asian Americans

• Lawsuits argue that affirmative action policies should be banned in U.S. 
• It also argues that Harvard limits the number of Asian Americans 
• It claims Harvard's acceptance rate for 'legacy' applicants whose family members are alumnus is about 30%

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 19:33, 17 November 2014 | UPDATED: 22:55, 17 November 2014

Lawsuits filed today against Harvard University in Massachusetts and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill argue that affirmative action policies should be banned at colleges across the nation.

The federal suits allege Harvard and UNC rely on race-based affirmative action policies that impact admissions of high-achieving white and Asian American students. 

The Harvard lawsuit also contends that the Ivy League university specifically limits the number of Asian Americans it admits each year.

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A lawsuit has been filed against Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (pictured)

The Project on Fair Representation, a Washington D.C.-based legal defense fund, promise Monday's federal court filings will be the first in a series of legal challenges against colleges across the country as it seeks to end affirmative action policies outright.

'Allowing this issue to be litigated in case after case will only perpetuate the hostilities that proper consideration of race is designed to avoid,' the lawsuits state. 

'Racial preferences are a dangerous tool and may only be used as a last resort. There is now overwhelming evidence that race-neutral alternatives render reliance on racial preferences unnecessary.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2838195/Harvard-UNC-sued-admission-policies.html#ixzz3JN5t2mEN