Equal Protection Project Sues Two University of California Schools For Federal Discrimination

Two different University of California campuses were recently smacked with federal discrimination complaints for casually administering racial spoils systems for faculty, students and staff.

In response, one campus is trying to hide its discriminatory scheme by removing incriminating language from its website.

The complaints against UCLA and the University of California at Irvine were filed with the United States Education Department  by Cornell law professor Bill Jacobson’s plucky Equal Protection Project.

The complaint against UCLA is for a whopping 13 different scholarship programs that are racially exclusive or for women only.

For example, the “UCLA Latino Alumni Association Endowed Alumni Scholarship” is for “incoming LatinX freshmen and transfer students.”

There is also the “Asia Pacific Alumni Network Alumni Scholarship” for “incoming Asian Pacific freshmen with proven leadership and vision, ethics, community service and coalition building skills concerning the welfare of the API community.”

And the “Pilipino Alumni Association Alumni Scholarship” is for students who “indicate they are members of the Pilipinx community.”

And only black students are eligible for the “Dr. Bertram L. Ashe UBAA Alumni Scholarship.”

But if you don’t fit neatly into any one particular ethnic group, UCLA also has a scholarship available–provided you are not white.

The “UCLA Mixed Alumni Association Alumni Scholarship” is for students who “self -identify as part of the mixed heritage community (e.g. mixed race/multiracial/multicultural/etc.)”

UCLA even has a scholarship for illegal immigrants! It is  known as the “UCLA Undocumented Alumni Association Scholarship.”

This sounds like illegal immigrants founded their own alumni association. But the program was actually started in 2019 by the UCLA financial aid office for “undocumented undergraduate students.”

The complaint also cites three UCLA scholarship programs for women that it says violate the Title IX prohibition against sex discrimination in education.

It concludes by saying that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights “has the power and obligation to investigate UCLA’s role in creating, funding, promoting and administering these scholarships – and, given how many there are, to discern whether UCLA is engaging in such discrimination in its other activities – and to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold it accountable for that unlawful conduct. “

Jacobson told the California Globe that all these exclusionary schemes are quite brazen.

“What we see nationally, but particularly in blue states and liberal-leaning institutions is a callous disregard for the civil rights law when violating the law advances a DEI agenda. Given the quantity of challenged programs at UCLA, the administration has a lot of explaining to do.”

Meanwhile, earlier this year Jacobson filed a complaint against the University of California at Irvine over its engineering school setting a racial quota for the number of black, faculty, students and staff.

The school website has said it wants the number to “match or exceed” the black population of California, which is believed to be six percent.

Jacobson told the California Globe that, “As set forth in our Complaint, UC Irvine set minimum racial quota targets for students, faculty, and staff. Racial quotas of any type are presumptively illegal and violate Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and for public universities, the 14th Amendment. This is not a disputed or complicated legal issue, and has been the law for decades. For UC Irvine to set such quotas was particularly brazen.”

After the complaint was filed, the engineering school deleted the language about the six percent goal from its website. But Jacobson said that move was unsatisfactory.

“Changing a website after a complaint is filed does not remedy the discrimination,” he emailed. “It’s a tacit admission of guilt.”

“UC Irvine should publicly explain why it had the minimum quota goals, why it promoted those quotas, and what if anything it has done to eliminate those quotas. UC Irvine cannot hide behind superficial website changes.”

But so far the only comment from the University is a two sentence statement from the communications office that does not address anything in what Jacobson filed.

“UC Irvine strives to create a learning and working environment where students and employees from all backgrounds are welcome to pursue their academic and professional goals. The university is reviewing the complaint.”