BOSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue Harvard University to force it to turn over documents as it investigates whether the Ivy League school's admission policies violate civil rights laws.

Citing a 2015 lawsuit that charges the school's affirmative action policies discriminate against Asian-American applicants, the federal government in a letter set a Dec. 1 deadline for Harvard to hand over documents on its admission policies.

The Justice Department is probing the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school's compliance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, according to the letter, dated Friday and seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The measure prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin.

"The Department is left with no choice but to conclude that Harvard is out of compliance with its Title VI access obligations," the letter reads. "For obvious reasons, Title VI does not allow entities under investigation to dictate what information qualifies as relevant."

Harvard has long maintained that its admissions policies are fully compliant with U.S. laws and has worked to increase the amount of financial aid it offers to ensure economic, as well as racial, diversity in its classes.

The school said earlier this year that just over half of the freshmen admitted in 2017 were women, more than one in five was Asian and almost 15 percent African-American.

Harvard officials and a lawyer for the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The missive follows summer news reports that the Justice Department had begun an investigation into whether university affirmative action admission policies broadly discriminate against white applicants.

Affirmative action programs in higher education were meant to address America's historic racial discrimination problem. The Supreme Court has ruled that universities may use affirmative action in admissions policies with the aim of helping minority applicants get into college.

U.S. conservatives have said that in helping black and Latino applicants, affirmative action can hurt white people and Asian-Americans by putting them at a disadvantage.

"The Department of Justice takes seriously any potential violation of an individual's civil and constitutional rights, but we will not comment at this time," Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley said in an e-mail.

(Reporting by Scott Malone and Nate Raymond; Editing by David Gregorio)

RELATED: These U.S. presidents went to Harvard:

5 PHOTOS Presidents who attended Harvard undergrad See Gallery Presidents who attended Harvard undergrad John Adams, second President of the United States, (20th century). Adams, (1735-1826) was president from 1797 until 1801. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images) John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States serving from 1825 to 1829. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers) Theodore Roosevelt, Politician, Republican Party, USA 26th President of the United States (1901-1909)(Photo by Philipp Kester/ullstein bild via Getty Images) President Roosevelt enjoys his fishing expedition on the Gulf of Mexico. His broad smile was inspired by his success in landing a 77-pound tarpon. (Photo via Getty Images) John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States. (Photo by Library Of Congress/Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

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