The Feminist Majority Foundation condemns the decision by the Trump administration, as reported by the New York Times, to direct the Justice Department’s civil rights resources to investigating and prosecuting universities that the administration believes discriminate against white people through affirmative action policies.
A statement by Feminist Majority Foundation president Eleanor Smeal:
The recently leaked internal announcement by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice seeking lawyers to investigate and sue colleges for so-called reverse racism against white students is shameful race-baiting politics at its worse. The decision would show a complete lack of understanding of both the history of racial oppression in our country and the need for diversity in our nation’s colleges and universities. The problem is not affirmative action, but rather the gross under-representation of African American and Latinx students at many institutions of higher education.
This decision would be the latest attempt by the administration and Attorney General Sessions to undermine our country’s civil rights laws. This plan would waste tax-payer dollars challenging policies that the Supreme Court already ruled as legal and constitutional, most recently in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas. One can only assume that the attorney general’s goal in pursuing this course of action would be to re-litigate a similar case before a more sympathetic, right-wing Court.
UPDATE 8/3/17: The Justice Department has denied the reporting, and claims they are looking to investigate discrimination against Asian-American applicants.
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