Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

September 23, 2024

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On September 23, 2024, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the University of Arkansas (“the U of A”). The Complaint alleges that the U of A, which is a recipient of federal funding, is violating the law “for sponsoring and promoting – in partnership with Sam’s Club and Walmart – a racially discriminatory program called the BIPOC Mentor Circle Series (“BIPOC Mentor Circle”).”

The Complaint continues that “a ‘core objective’ of the program, whose monthly meetings will be held in a campus building during the 2024-2025 academic year, is “[t]o enhance the long-term professional development of BIPOC students as they transition into the workforce.”

The Complaint then sets out the legal basis for its assertion that the U of A is violating federal civil rights laws:

The BIPOC Mentor Circle violates Title VI because it conditions eligibility for participation on a student’s race, ethnicity and skin color. And, because U of A is a public university, its sponsorship, promotion and hosting 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 U of A receives federal funds, including from the U.S. Department of Education, it is subject to Title VI.

 

Indeed, based on the requirement that participating students be BIPOC, the campus meetings would be de facto segregated by race, skin color, and ethnicity. Any reasonable student viewing the information on the U of A website would understand the racially exclusionary basis of the program, and non-BIPOC students would be dissuaded from even applying or attempting to participate.

 

The BIPOC Mentor Circle clearly falls within the scope of Title VI and OCR’s jurisdiction. It does not matter that a particular program may be considered “extracurricular” or just a “club” or “group,” the same considerations apply as OCR noted in its 2023 Guidance on Race and School Programming recognizing that “[s]chool programs – including the … establishment, recognition, or support of a school group, club, or other extracurricular organization” are covered by Title VI.

The Complaint summarizes and requests OCR take action:

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate U of A’s role in promoting and administering this program 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[.]” [Parents Involved in Cmty. Sch. v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 551 U.S. 701, 748 (2007)].

 

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 U of A BIPOC Mentor Circle based on discriminatory criteria and ensure that all ongoing and future programming through U of A comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

EPP’s Civil Rights Complaint against the University of Arkansas is being evaluated by OCR.