Case Particulars

Tribunal

U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR)

Date Filed

January 28, 2025

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On January 28, 2025, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against a group of four Pennsylvania-based universities.

From the Complaint:

We make this civil rights complaint against the four universities that comprise the Keystone Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (“Keystone LSAMP Alliance”), East Stroudsburg University, Millersville University, Slippery Rock University, and West Chester University (“Alliance Members”), for administering and promoting a program which discriminates on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin in violation of Title VI and the 14th Amendment.

The Complaint then uses the Alliance Members’ own websites to show the discriminatory nature of each of the four universities programs. Again from the Complaint:

[T]he application itself limits applicants to “Underrepresented Minorities,” which includes only “African American, Hispanic American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Native Pacific Islander, or two or more from the list.” A reasonable student who did not fit one of these racial or ethnic groups likely would not apply due to the racial and ethnic barriers.

The Complaint then explains why these discriminatory provisions violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution:

The Keystone LSAMP Alliance program violates Title VI because it conditions eligibility for participation on a student’s race and ethnicity. And, because the Alliance Members are public universities, their promotion and administration of this discriminatory program also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Title VI prohibits intentional discrimination based on 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 public system of higher education.” See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-4a(2)(A). As the Alliance Members receive federal funds, including from the U.S. Department of Education, they are subject to Title VI…And, because the Alliance Members are public universities, their sponsorship and promotion of the program also violates the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Complaint then summarizes and requests OCR take action:

Because the discriminatory eligibility criteria of the Keystone LSAMP Alliance program are presumptively invalid, and because the Alliance Members cannot show any compelling justification for those restrictions, the limitation of this program based on race and ethnicity violates federal civil rights statutes and constitutional equal protection guarantees.

 

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate the member school’s role in promoting and administering these programs 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,” the Supreme Court has taught, “is to stop discriminating[.]”

 

* * * *

 

Accordingly, we respectfully ask that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights open a formal investigation, impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from the Keystone LSAMP Alliance program based on discriminatory criteria and ensure that all ongoing and future programming through the member schools comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.