It's not the NYT making the claims, they are merely reporting on them. And I think it's weird to just dismiss all evidence that conflicts with your priors. But fine, how about the NY Post:

https://nypost.com/2025/09/11/us-news/schools-may-be-using-a...

Or how about this quote from a former admissions officer at Brandeis:

"We might admit the male student and wait-list the female student because of wanting to get closer to this sort of gender parity in terms of percentages in the class."

https://hechingerreport.org/an-unnoticed-result-of-the-decli...