Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

October 30, 2024

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On October 30, 2024, the Equal Protection Project filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) against the University of Wisconsin-Madison (“UW-Madison”) for violating Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that UW-Madison, “a public institution,…support[s] and promot[es] the Mentorship Opportunities in Science and Agriculture for Individuals of Color (“BIPOC MOSAIC”), a program that engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.”

The Complaint requests that OCR treat the UW-Madison Complaint in an expedited fashion because “UW-Madison is a repeat offender, having previously resolved another OCR complaint regarding another BIPOC-only program, yet instituting and promoting the present BIPOC MOSAIC program anyway. Clearly OCR action is needed to bring UW-Madison into compliance with the law.”

The Complaint then explains, using UW-Madison’s own website, the exclusionary nature of the BIPOC MOSAIC program.

The Compliant explains the legal basis for the Complaint:

UW-Madison’s voluntary and ongoing participation in and active promotion of the BIPOC MOSAIC program, which provides mentorship to students based on their race and skin color, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and its implementing regulations. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.; 28 C.F.R. Part 100; see also Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244, 276 n.23 (2003) (“We have explained that discrimination that violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment committed by an institution that accepts federal funds also constitutes a violation of Title VI.”).

 

It violates Title VI for a recipient of federal money to create, support and promote a racially segregated program. When a public institution does so, such conduct also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

 

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any “program or activity” that receives federal financial assistance. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. The term “program or activity” means “all of the operations … of a college, university, or other postsecondary institution, or a public system of higher education.” See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-4a(2)(A); Rowles v. Curators of the Univ. of Mo., 983 F.3d 345, 355 (8th Cir. 2020) (“Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in federally funded programs,” and thus applies to universities receiving federal financial assistance). As UW-Madison receives federal funds, it is subject to Title VI.

The Complaint then summarizes and requests that OCR take action:

OCR has jurisdiction over this complaint. UW-Madison is a public institution and a recipient of federal funds, including from the U.S. Department of Education. It is therefore liable for violating Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause.

 

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate UW-Madison’s role in participating in, sponsoring, supporting and promoting the BIPOC MOSAIC program – and to discern whether UW-Madison 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. This includes, if necessary, imposing fines, initiating administrative proceedings to suspend or terminate federal financial assistance and referring the case to the Department of Justice for judicial proceedings to enforce the rights of the United States under federal law. After all, “[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” [citation omitted].

 

Accordingly, we respectfully ask the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to impose remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from UW-Madison’s BIPOC MOSAIC program based on racially discriminatory criteria, and to ensure that all ongoing and future programming through that university comport with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Civil rights Complaint for further action.