Harvard admissions lawsuit could get summer trial

A lawsuit that claims Harvard caps the number of Asian-Americans it admits could go to trial in Boston as early as this summer, CNN reported.

The lawsuit, filed by the advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions in 2014, is currently in late stages of discovery, with discovery and depositions scheduled for completion May 1. The lawsuit alleges Harvard discriminates against Asian-Americans in its admissions process.

Lawyers for both sides submitted a status report and proposed schedule March 9 in US District Court in Boston, according to a new filing in the case.

Harvard has asked a trial begin in July or August. SFFA wants a trial to begin no earlier than Oct 1, as it would need extra time to prepare for a trial of the size and scope anticipated.

SFFA has recently finished data analysis of about 200,000 Harvard undergraduate admissions files from a six-year period and have been trying to detect patterns that would support the group's claim Asian-Americans are held to a higher standard than other applicants. Harvard lawyers noted they have offered competing analyses of the same set of admissions data.

From the start, Harvard has rejected the assertion that it sets Asian-American caps. Harvard spokeswoman Anna Cowenhoven emphasized the college's goal of broad student diversity in a recent statement, also saying the university's admissions practices consider the "whole person" - not only the applicants' capacity for academic excellence, but also their ability to contribute to and learn from people profoundly different from themselves.