Lawsuit claims Northwestern Law has discriminated against qualified white men in hiring for years
A recent lawsuit alleges that Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law has discriminated against white men in faculty hiring by giving preference to non-white individuals with lower qualifications.
A lawsuit filed on July 2 alleges that Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law has discriminated against white men in faculty hiring by giving preference to non-white individuals with lower qualifications.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group called Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences (FASORP).
“Faculty hiring at American universities is a cesspool of corruption and lawlessness,” the group states. “For decades, left-wing faculty and administrators have been thumbing their noses at federal anti-discrimination statutes and openly discriminating on account of race and sex when appointing professors.”
Specifically, the group alleges that Pritzker has given preference to “women and racial minorities with mediocre and undistinguished records over white men who have better credentials, better scholarship, and better teaching ability.”
FASORP argues that, in the past dozen years, the law school has “propagated and enforced a mandate” to give preference to “non-white and non-male faculty” in hiring decisions.
“This hiring mandate, which remains in effect, directs Northwestern Law School to intentionally and consciously discriminate in favor of black, Hispanic, Asian, female, homosexual, and transgender faculty candidates, and against white men who are heterosexual and non-transgender,” the document reads.
The lawsuit also alleges that Pritzker officials knew that the prioritization of one group of people over another in hiring decisions was unlawful, and thus attempted to hide the requirements.
“Dean Rodriguez knew that this discriminatory hiring edict was illegal and would expose the university to lawsuits,” the group alleges. “So he ordered the Northwestern faculty to never discuss candidates for hiring over the faculty listserv, and explicitly mentioned litigation risk as his reason for banning listserv discussions of faculty candidates.”
“As a result of the mandate, Northwestern University School of Law refuses to even consider hiring white male faculty candidates with stellar credentials, while it eagerly hires candidates with mediocre and undistinguished records who check the proper diversity boxes,” the lawsuit concludes.
Pritzker has an entire web page dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which contains a statement on the importance of DEI from its dean, Hari Osofsky.
“At Northwestern Pritzker Law, we are deeply committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of our community and to taking concrete action to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion and social and racial justice,” Osofsky is quoted as saying.
Jon Yates, Northwestern’s Vice President for Global Marketing and Communications, told Campus Reform that the school intends to fight the lawsuit.
“Northwestern Pritzker School of Law is among the top law schools in the country, and we are proud of their outstanding faculty,” the spokesperson said. “We intend to vigorously defend this case.”
