Fordham hit with civil rights complaint over 'discriminatory' diversity programs

An anti-discrimination group has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Fordham University in New York for allegedly operating discriminatory “diversity” programs in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Fordham operates, administers, and promotes three discriminatory scholarship programs,” the complaint asserts, specifically identifying the “Diversity Fund,” “Fordham Scholarship,” and “Latino Social Work Coalition Scholarship Program” as problematic.

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“These scholarship programs, among other things, set up unequal standards of eligibility so that students similarly situated are treated differently based on race and ethnicity, in clear violation of Title VI,” the complaint contends.

With regards to Fordham’s “Diversity Fund,” for example, the lawsuit alleges its criteria are “racially discriminatory” because they provide different eligibility standards for students “of color” and students “not ‘of color.’”

“‘[S]tudents of color’ are eligible regardless of whether they are ‘first-generation’ or ‘lower-income,’” the complaint explains, referring to criteria published on Fordham’s website. “Students who are not ‘of color’ (i.e. whites) are eligible only if they are first-generation or lower-income.”

EPP asserts that racially discriminatory criteria such as these violate federal civil rights law.

“The eligibility requirements for these programs openly discriminate on the basis of race and ethnicity. Regardless of the purpose of the discrimination, it is wrong and unlawful,” EPP founder William Jacobson said. “After the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students For Fair Admission, it is clear that discriminating on the basis of race to achieve diversity is not lawful.”

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“Fordham knows better than to run educational programs that exclude students based on race and ethnicity. Fordham’s own nondiscrimination standards forbid such discrimination,” Jacobson continued. “Fordham should live up to its own set of rules.”

“When OCR [the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights] receives a complaint, they review it and decide, as a threshold matter, whether to proceed,” Fordham spokesperson Bob Howe said regarding the Equal Protection Project’s recent complaint. “OCR does not pursue every complaint they receive, so it would be very premature to comment.”

The EPP has filed around 30 similar complaints against universities throughout the United States.

Of the dozens of complaints that EPP has filed, it reports that the majority of them have been successful thus far. “At least half of the schools have changed their discriminatory practices in response to our complaints,” Jacobson has stated.

Campus Reform has contacted Fordham University and the Equal Protection Project for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.