Justice Department to challenge universities over alleged discrimination against whites
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Updated: The U.S. Justice Department is looking in-house for lawyers to work on a project challenging universities over affirmative action policies believed to discriminate against whites.
An internal memo seeks lawyers for “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” the New York Times reports. The Times obtained a copy of the memo, and the Washington Post confirmed its contents with a government official.
The document doesn’t specifically mention discrimination against whites, but the phrase “intentional race-based discrimination” suggests the program targets admission policies designed to increase minority representation.
The project will be run out of the front office of the civil rights division where political appointees work, rather than the division’s Educational Opportunities Section. Two sources told the Post the project was moved after career lawyers for education issues refused to work on it.
Sarah Isgur Flores, director of public affairs at DOJ, refused on Tuesday to comment on the internal job announcement, telling the Post it’s a personnel issue. The next day, the Justice Department issued a statement saying it was seeking lawyers to investigate a single complaint involving Asian Americans in college admissions, though the memo referred to “investigations” rather than an investigation, the New York Times later reported.
Roger Clegg, a former top official in the civil rights division during two Republican administrations, told the Times the news was a “long overdue” development.
“The civil rights laws were deliberately written to protect everyone from discrimination, and it is frequently the case that not only are whites discriminated against now, but frequently Asian-Americans are as well,” he said.
Clegg said the program would likely look for gaps in test scores and dropout rates that would suggest too much emphasis is being placed on an applicant’s race.
Vanita Gupta, who headed the Justice Department’s civil rights division during the Obama administration, told the Post the project was “an affront to our values as a country and the very mission of the civil rights division.”
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas, but said there may be a need for more evaluation as data is collected on its effects.
The university accepted the top students at each of the state’s high schools under a Top Ten Percent Plan. Because admissions in that category were capped at 75 percent, students actually had to finish in the top 7 percent or 8 percent of their class to be accepted. The rest of the students were chosen in a way that considers race as one factor.
Updated on Aug. 3 to include later statement by the Justice Department.
