AEI Scholar files complaints against universities with discriminatory programming

An American Enterprise Institute scholar filed complaints against Jacksonville University and the California Institute of Technology for programs excluding students on the basis of race and gender.

University of Michigan economics professor Mark Perry believes that the two universities breach Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which states that “no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” — through their diversity initiatives.

The University of Michigan website lists Perry as a “retiree.” 

Perry filed a complaint with the Atlanta Office for Civil Rights in response to Jacksonville University’s Master’s in Public Policy Minority Fellowship. The program exclusively intends to “educate, train, and prepare a new generation of African American leadership in North Florida.” The program further states that it is meant for “minority applicants.”

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Perry explained that Jacksonville University is “treating students differently on the basis of race, color, and national origin in violation of Title VI, and the University is illegally discriminating against students who are white, Asian, Hispanic and Native American.”

Perry also mentioned a Jacksonville University press release announcing the fellowship, which included several instances of racially exclusive language — including “future African-American leaders,” “qualified minority applicants,” and “will afford the most talented black graduate students.”

“Jacksonville University is clearly and unmistakably treating students differently on the basis of color when determining who is eligible for its racially discriminatory program, and that is a clear violation of federal civil rights laws that puts the college’s federal funding in jeopardy,” Perry told Campus Reform. “It’s hard to know whether the university didn’t realize it was violating federal civil rights laws when it created this racially discriminatory program in 2018 or whether it knowingly created a program that violated Title VI, assuming it wouldn’t be challenged.”

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Perry also filed a complaint against the California Institute of Technology for STEM programs specific to women and “students of color.”

CalTech’s FUTURE Ignited program uses “an inclusive definition of ‘students of color’ to include those who have been historically underrepresented in STEM including but not limited to, African American/Black, Latin(x), Native/Indigenous/First Nation, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.”

Perry wrote in his complaint that “it would appear that all sub-groups of Asian students are NOT considered eligible because they are not historically underrepresented in STEM and are not listed by the program in the qualifying list of eligible student Census categories.”

Perry added that FUTURE Ignited discriminates against students by denying them “educational benefits of the program, and they are being subjected to discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin.”

Likewise, the FUTURE program exists to support “the ambitions of aspiring young women in physics, who will go on to become part of a diverse generation of scientific leaders.” The university uses “an inclusive definition of ‘woman’ and ‘female’ and welcome trans women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people.”

Perry wrote in his complaint that FUTURE “does exclude male students from participation based on sex, and the University does allow male students to be denied the benefits of this program on its campus based on sex.”

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Perry additionally told Campus Reform that despite illegality of discrimination based on race and sex, “universities routinely violate Title VI and Title IX by operating, offering, and promoting illegal discriminatory single-sex, female-only, no males allowed programs and illegal racially exclusive programs that discriminate on the basis of race color.”

Perry finds it problematic that “universities regularly boast about their strong commitment to the principles of ‘diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE)’ and demonstrate that commitment by spending millions of dollars on ‘diversicrats’ and campus diversity efforts.”

Perry added that there are a growing number of individuals and organizations working to expose universities for race-based discrimination.

“The complaints that are currently being reviewed, investigated, and successfully resolved by the Office for Civil Rights is bringing about a new era in higher education that is slowly overturning and correcting the systemic sexism and racism that have seriously compromised and tarnished the legal and moral integrity of America’s colleges and universities for many decades,” he remarked.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @ajmunguia23