For the first time in its nearly 400-year history, Harvard has admitted a majority nonwhite class, The Boston Globe reported.
Official figures released by the college show that the entering class of 2021 is:
• 22.2% Asian American
• 14.6% African American
• 11.6% Hispanic or Latino
• 2.5% Native American or Pacific Islander
Of the entering freshman class, 50.8% are from minority groups, an increase from the 47.3% figure last year, The Globe reported.
The news comes just as the Department of Justice indicated it planned to review a complaint of discrimination at Harvard University related to its admissions process.
An anti-affirmative action group called Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit against Harvard in 2015, alleging that the college and other Ivy League institutions use racial quotas to admit students to the detriment of more qualified Asian-American applicants. The group includes a coalition of more than 60 Asian-American groups.