The US Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard University's policy of giving family members of former students and donors preference in admissions decisions, documents showed on Tuesday .
They argue that due to Harvard's historically white student body, legacy admissions pulling from alumni discriminate against minority applicants. The groups posted a copy of the Education Department's letter to Harvard stating that a civil rights inquiry had been opened. When reached for comment by AFP, Harvard did not address the Education Department probe directly, saying only that it was"in the process of reviewing aspects of our admissions policies" following the Supreme Court's decision on the use of race in admissions, known as affirmative action.