LEWISTON — Bates College is one of at least 10 prestigious liberal arts colleges under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for possible violations of antitrust laws that govern how colleges may swap information on students who have received early-decision offers for admission.

A letter from the DOJ’s antitrust division sent to the colleges, first reported by Inside Higher Ed, explains that the probe is investigating “a potential agreement between colleges relating to their early-decision practices.”

It asks the colleges, including most of the other schools that, like Bates, are members of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, to preserve all material related to the issue.

Marjorie Hall, director of strategic communications at Bates, said Thursday that the college “received a request from the Department of Justice to preserve records, and we have complied with this request.”

She declined to offer further information.

Representatives of Colby and Bowdoin colleges in Maine also received the Justice Department letter.

Bowdoin is “among the colleges that received this request from the Department of Justice, and we are cooperating fully with the request,” said Doug Cook, communications director at Bowdoin in Brunswick.

Kate Carlisle, Colby’s director of communications, confirmed Thursday the letter had also been sent to the Waterville college.

The Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Department letter had also been sent to Amherst College, Grinnell College, Middlebury College, Pomona College, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University and Williams College. At least Amherst and Grinnell have acknowledged receiving the letter.

It is not known how many schools are under investigation. The Justice Department is not answering questions about the probe.

The issue under investigation appears to be tied to a common practice among elite colleges and universities of offering an early decision for admission to applicants who agree that if they are accepted, they will attend.

Bates says on its website that for students who have decided Bates is their “first-choice college,” there are two rounds of early decision.

“It’s understood that if you’re admitted at this time,” the college website reads, “you will withdraw your applications to other colleges.” 

The reason schools might communicate with one another about early-decision candidates is to make sure that students who agree to early-decision offers — and who, therefore, agree to not seek higher education alternatives — keep their promise. But how much institutions discuss the issue is uncertain.

A 2005 law review article by Adam L. Henry laid out a case for how the early admission rules may violate antitrust laws.

Henry said that because students who agree to early decision cannot compare financial aid packages, there is an element of restricting competition, especially if colleges share lists of accepted students.

Henry argued that “a court should find the agreement currently in place among colleges, mutually enforcing early-decision commitments, to be an illegal restraint of trade under the Sherman Act.”

The Sherman Act, passed in 1890, aimed to ensure a competitive marketplace to protect consumers from abuses by trusts and other entities that might limit genuine competition in the marketplace.

Bates is coming off its most successful recruiting year ever.

It reported that 7,688 prospective students applied for admission in the Class of 2022, a 45 percent increase from the previous year. The college has more than doubled its number of international applicants, and has seen sharp increases in the numbers of students applying from the Midwest, South and West.

A typical class at Bates has about 500 students. Last year, more than half of the entering class was admitted by early decision.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the Justice Department has asked colleges to maintain any formal or informal agreements “to exchange or otherwise disclose the identities of accepted students with persons at other colleges or universities.”

It has also asked colleges to keep all communications related to admitted students, internal documents on the issue, records about decisions involving those students and other related records or documentation.

scollins@sunjournal.com

First-year students line up prior to the September 2013 opening convocation processional at Bates College in Lewiston. (Sun Journal file photo)

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