Dive Brief:

• An opponent of using race as a factor in admitting college students has filed lawsuits in federal courts accusing Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill of bias against certain racial groups.
• Edward Blum is the leader of Students for Fair Admissions, which is the plaintiff in both lawsuits, the Washington Post reports. Blum backed an affirmative action lawsuit against the University of Texas that recently reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Harvard is accused of discriminating against Asian-Americans in its admissions, while the University of North Carolina is accused of failing to consider a race-neutral admissions policy.

Dive Insight:

Blum said the lawsuits are the first of what is expected to be several against colleges that use racial preferences in admissions. Representatives of Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill told the Post that their policies were cited as legally sound by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Department of Education, respectively. In the Texas case, the Supreme Court sent it back down to the lower courts, which have upheld their decisions in favor of the university, and Blum has said he will appeal to the Supreme Court again.