A United States federal court in Boston, Massachusetts,is hearing a discrimination case against the oldest university in the country.The nonprofit organization Students for Fair Admissions first took legal actionagainst Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2014.It says the school discriminates against Asian-Americans seeking admission.The legal action accuses Harvard of holding Asian-American studentsto higher requirements than students of other races.It says the university uses "racial balancing" policiesthat unlawfully limit how many Asian American students it accepts.The organization argues that race should not be consideredwhen deciding which students to accept.The use of "racial classifications and preferences" is "unfair,unnecessary, and unconstitutional," the group says on its website.It accuses the school of discriminating against Asian-Americansseeking admission by giving them a "personal rating."Lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions said these ratingsseek to measure personal qualities such as "courage" and "likeability."Such qualities are measured subjectively,leaving the process open to discrimination, the lawyers argued.The group says it has more than 20,000 members,including students, parents and others.Harvard denies using discriminatory practices in its admissions process.The Ivy League school says it uses raceas one of many things it considers in admissions decisions.It believes considering race can help create a mixed community"where students from all walks of life" can learn with and from each other.Education and employment policiesthat consider race are known as affirmative action.Supporters say these policies can help make up for historic,widespread racial discrimination of minority groups.Critics have long argued that affirmative actionis unfair to white people and Asian-Americanswho outperform other groups on academic measures.The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several casesabout affirmative action in recent years.The Supreme Court's most recent decision on the subjectapproved limited use of race in the admission process.That 2016 decision came from a lawsuit against the University of Texasthat accused the school of discriminating against white students.Harvard leaders have said the school only considers racein the way earlier Supreme Court cases have ruled is permitted.The university has also noted that its share of Asian-Americanshas grown in recent years, reaching 23 percent of the latest first year class.Harvard reports that 15.2 percent of its most recent first year class is African-American.Hispanic or Latino students make up 12.3 percent,while 1.9 percent are Native American.That leaves a remaining group of mainly white students at under 50 percent.President Donald Trump's administration supports the argument against Harvard.In July, the Trump administration announced it was withdrawinggovernment guidelines meant to increase student diversity at U.S. schools.The guidelines were developed during the presidency of Barack Obama.The guidance stated that schools could consider race in admissions decisionsas long as the policies did not violate Supreme Court decisions.The U.S. Justice Department said it was withdrawing the guidelinesbecause it considered them "unnecessary or outdated."Civil rights groups criticized the move and some university officialssaid they would continue their efforts toward mixed student populations as before.