The Yale Bulldogs mascot performs during the game between the Yale Bulldogs and the Duke Blue Devils in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Dunkin’ Donuts Center, March 19, 2016 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Maddie Meyer | Getty Images)

A coalition of more than 130 Asian American organizations, including two Indian American groups, have sought an investigation into admission practices of the prestigious Yale University and two other Ivy League institutions, alleging that they discriminate against students from the community on racial grounds, writes Yoshita Singh. (@Siliconeer, #Siliconeer, #Yale, #USCollegeEducation, #RacialDiscrimination, #YaleUniversity, #IvyLeague, #BrownUniversity, #DartmouthCollege)

Indian American groups – the American Society of Engineers of National Capital Chapter and the Global Organization of Los Angeles Chapter have joined over 130 Asian American groups and got the complaint filed, May 23, by Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) group against Yale, Brown University and Dartmouth College with the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice.

The complaint alleges that the three institutions are “engaged in unlawful discrimination against Asian American applicants to their colleges” and participate in a “covert and insidious scheme to enforce race-based quotas in college admissions” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“Although discrimination by elite colleges against Asian American students is widespread, AACE and the joining organizations are bringing this complaint against the three named Ivy League Colleges because Brown University and Dartmouth College have maintained the lowest admission rates for Asian American students, while Yale University not only maintains a relatively low admission rate for Asian American applicants, but also engages in destroying admissions records at its law school,” the complaint said.

In May last year, a similar complaint was filed against Harvard University on behalf of Asian American students by a coalition of 64 groups alleging that the Ivy League institution discriminated against Asian American applicants in its admissions process and “unfairly” rejected well-qualified students because of their race.

Four Indian American groups were part of the coalition that had complained to the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

The AACE compliant cited a 2012 complaint filed by an Indian American student against Harvard and Princeton and said there have been prior attempts to hold Ivy League colleges and other elite institutions accountable for their “illegal discrimination” against Asian American applicants.

The complaint further alleged the Asian American college-age population in the U.S. has grown from 2.5% in 1995 to 5.1% in 2011.

In the same period, the percentage of Asian Americans at Yale and most other Ivy League colleges has declined because of “negative stereotyping coupled with racial quotas and caps, maintained by racially differentiated standards for admission that severely burden Asian American applicants.”