Harvard admitted a majority nonwhite class for the first time in history

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Fans tailgate before the game between the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Bulldogs at Harvard Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

Harvard is nearly 400 years old.

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For the first time in its nearly 400-year history, Harvard has admitted a majority nonwhite class, The Boston Globe reported.

Official figures released by the college show that the entering class of 2021 is:

• 22.2% Asian American

• 14.6% African American

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• 11.6% Hispanic or Latino

• 2.5% Native American or Pacific Islander

Of the entering freshman class, 50.8% are from minority groups, an increase from the 47.3% figure last year, The Globe reported.

The news comes just as the Department of Justice indicated it planned to review a complaint of discrimination at Harvard University related to its admissions process.

An anti-affirmative action group called Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit against Harvard in 2015, alleging that the college and other Ivy League institutions use racial quotas to admit students to the detriment of more qualified Asian-American applicants. The group includes a coalition of more than 60 Asian-American groups.

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