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awyers for Harvard University on Friday asked a federal court to keep information about individual applicants — and specific details of its admissions process — under seal. In their filing, the lawyers argue that publicly disclosing several kinds of documents would compromise students' privacy and jeopardize the university's "commercial interests."
Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit group that's suing Harvard, seeks to yank down the curtain that keeps the particulars of the university's selection process from public view. The group's anti-discrimination lawsuit, which accuses the university of discriminating against Asian-American applicants, reached a pivotal point this month, when previously confidential documents describing the university’s admissions process were disclosed.
Yet Harvard's lawyers argue that while the public may have an interest in the high-profile case, "that interest does not mandate the disclosure of every document about the Harvard admissions process that might be the subject of public curiosity."