Asian Group Files Lawsuit Against Harvard University for Rejecting Them: Does the School Have Higher Admission Requirements for Asians?

A lawsuit filed Monday by Asian students rejected from Harvard University is attacking the school's affirmative action policies, stating that Asians often with higher grade-point averages and test scores than black and Hispanic students who get in are not accepted.

Fox News reports that the leader of the Project on Fair Representation, Edward Blum, filed the suit on behalf of a group of Asian students who were not admitted to the school. He claims the case shows clear favoring of particular racial groups over others.

"Quotas and racial balancing are strictly against the law," Blum said.

His group also sued the University of Texas last year on behalf of a white applicant on its affirmative action admissions policies, a case that eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Harvard case differs from Texas in that the negative impact is on a minority group, which the admissions policies were enacted to protect.

Monday's filing cites a 2009 study performed by Princeton sociologists that showed that the average Asian-American applicant needed a 1460 SAT score to be accepted, a comparable white student in regards to other qualifications only needed a 1320 score. Meanwhile, black students with a score of 1010 or higher and Hispanics scoring 1190 were admitted.

However, this study therefore also shows that Asians as a whole score higher than any other demographic on the SAT, so colleges that try to avoid having a disproportionate amount of Asians in the student body would likely need to set higher requirements.

Individual student applicants in the lawsuit remained anonymous, but the court documents note that their qualifications were above average despite their rejection.

"The College considers each applicant through an individualized, holistic review having the goal of creating a vibrant academic community that exposes students to a wide-range of differences: background, ideas, experiences, talents and aspirations," Robert Iuliano, Harvard's general counsel, wrote in an email to Fox News. "The University's admissions processes remain fully compliant with all legal requirements and are essential to the pedagogical objectives that underlie Harvard's educational mission."