(CNN) The Justice Department accused Yale University of discriminating against Asian American and White applicants in its undergraduate admissions process. "Yale rejects scores of Asian American and white applicants each year based on their race," disfavoring applicants from those races compared to African American applicants with similar academic credentials, the Justice Department alleged in a statement Thursday. The announcement, the culmination of a two-year civil rights investigation spurred by a complaint by Asian-American groups, represents the latest move by the Trump administration to undermine affirmative action policies that have bolstered diversity within higher education for decades. The school's admissions process, the Justice Department said, is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and Yale must stop the use of race or national origin in its upcoming admissions cycle or get sign-off on a plan that continues to use it from the department, officials told the school. In a statement, a Yale spokeswoman said the school "categorically denies this allegation" and called it a "meritless" and "hasty" determination.

Source: CNN August 13, 2020 22:07 UTC