Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

July 23, 2024

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On July 23, 2024, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against Roosevelt University of Illinois. The Complaint alleges that Roosevelt University, which is a recipient of federal funding, “operates, administers and promotes the Black Male Leadership Academy (“BMLA”), which as its name indicates and the program description confirms is offered exclusively for Black males.” As a result, Roosevelt University is liable for “illegal sex-based and race-based discrimination in violation of Title VI and Title IX.”

The Complaint then sets out, in detail and using IU’s own website, the eligibility conditions for the BMLA.

Title VI, which prohibits race-based discrimination by any entity receiving federal funding, applies to Roosevelt University. And Title IX outlaws sex-based discrimination in education. From the Complaint:

Roosevelt violates Title VI by conditioning eligibility for or providing preferential treatment for the BMLA based on a student’s race or color. 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 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 Roosevelt receives federal funds, it is subject to Title VI.

 

Title IX makes it unlawful to discriminate based on sex in education. That statute provides that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” 20 U.S.C. §1681(a). For this reason, a school receiving federal funding may not administer scholarships, fellowships or other forms of financial assistance that impose a preference or restriction based on sex, with limited exceptions not applicable here. 34 C.F.R. § 106.37(a).

 

Here, the sex-based eligibility criterion for participation in the BMLA is, by its terms, plain: If applicants do not meet the blunt requirement that they are “African-American males,” they are not eligible for this program. Roosevelt’s discrimination against females in barring them from participation in the BMLA is unlawful.

 

[emphasis in OCR Complaint]

The Complaint summarizes and requests OCR take action:

[W]e 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 anyone who may have been illegally excluded from Roosevelt’s Black Male Leadership Academy based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future programming through Roosevelt comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Civil Rights Complaint.