The Trump administration's Department of Justice is targeting Yale University over claims its admissions process hurts white and Asian applicants, making it one of a crowded field of elite universities facing investigations from the Trump administration. Multiple outlets, including the New York Times, have reported that Yale is trying to settle with the administration.
That’s provoked pushback from faculty, students and even lawmakers like U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.
In an open letter to the Yale community on Monday, university President Maurie McInnis said Yale is negotiating in good faith with the Trump administration. She said she’s seen misinformation spreading, but didn’t give specifics. She also didn’t directly address any proposed settlement, but said the university will safeguard academic freedom.
New Haven Alderman Elias Theodore is also a Yale student and one of an array of voices begging the university not to capitulate to Trump’s Department of Justice over an investigation into admissions standards.
“There's a lot of fear of what a settlement could mean for our international classmates, a lot of fear of what this could look like for free speech on campus," Theodore said.
But he criticized the administration over reports of the settlement offers.
“To me, that is not talking and listening," he said. "And then the next line, 'It is a required and reasonable step, and we are participating in good faith.' It's not required. We don't need to be doing this right now. We definitely don't need to be making offers before the Trump administration has formally put forward any demands.”
Theodore said he’s sympathetic to McInniss’s position, though, and he’s grateful she’s trying to keep people in the loop.
