At Harvard, non-whites in the incoming class make up a majority of students for the first time.
New admissions of minority groups were up from last year’s 47.3 percent to 50.8 percent and included African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians, The Boston Globe reported.
This comes amid reports that the U.S. Justice Department was looking to investigate affirmative action admission policies among universities accused of discriminating against white applicants.
According to an internal document obtained by The New York Times, leaders of the U.S. Justice Department were exploring options of "investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions."
However, on Wednesday the department dismissed these reports, stating it had no intentions of pursuing investigations into admission programs discriminating against the race of students among universities.
Instead, the Justice Department told The Associated Press that the document in question was related to a job posting tied to a single complaint.
Spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said, "The posting sought volunteers to investigate one administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that the prior administration left unresolved."
The incident has resulted in several universities taking to the defense and standing up for their admission policies.
Rachael Dane, a spokeswoman for Harvard, told The Boston Globe "to become leaders in our diverse society, students must have the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives. Harvard remains committed to enrolling diverse classes of students.
She added that the universities admissions process "considers each applicant as a whole person, and we review many factors, consistent with the legal standards established by the U.S. Supreme Court."