Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

April 22, 2025

Docket No.

OCR Case Number 05-25-2404

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On April 22, 2025, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint against Drake University (Drake) with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) “for discrimination in a school-administered program, the Crew Scholars Program (“Crew Program”) open only to “students of color” in violation of Title VI.”

The Complaint continues:

Drake has a longstanding commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion (“DEI”) on campus. Today that “…commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion acknowledges the role Drake University can play in redressing historic injustices that result in continued
marginalization of members of specific groups…” The university’s DEI department has numerous programs and initiatives.

 

Drake remains committed to DEI. The university’s Associate Provost, Campus Equity & Inclusion assured that, “Regardless of what Iowa legislation might pass, this work will continue in some shape or form, even if it has to take on a new name, even if it has to take on an altered appearance. This work is too important to just let it vanish.

The Complaint then uses Drake’s own website to show the discriminatory nature of the Crew Program.

Next, the Complaint explains why the Crew Program violates Title VI:

The Crew Program violates Title VI because it conditions eligibility for participation based on a student’s race, according to the Drake website. 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 Drake receives federal funds, it is subject to Title VI.

The Complaint then summarizes and requests that OCR take action:

Because the discrimination outlined above is presumptively illegal, the fact that it conditions eligibility for this program on race, color, and/or national origin violates Title VI.

 

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate Drake’s role in creating, funding, promoting and administering this program as well as the duty to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold it accountable for this 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…

 

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

OCR is evaluating EPP Complaint for further action.