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Four Pennsylvania state universities are facing a civil rights complaint filed Tuesday for allegedly discriminating against Asian and white students through their participation in a minority-focused STEM program, marking another challenge to race-conscious academic initiatives following last year’s Supreme Court decision on affirmative action.

The Equal Protection Project (EPP), a project of the conservative Rhode Island-based nonprofit Legal Insurrection Foundation, filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights against Millersville University, Slippery Rock University, East Stroudsburg University and West Chester University. The universities are members of the Keystone Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, which Millersville University describes on its website as “an NSF-funded program intended to support historically underrepresented students pursuing a major in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics.”

The allegations

The complaint alleges that the program’s eligibility requirements — which specify that applicants must be African American, Hispanic American, American Indian, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander — violate Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

“By having a description of the program that requires you be how they have defined minority and by having an application which requires that you certify that you are one of these minorities they are in fact discriminating and excluding other people,” said EPP founder William Jacobson.

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The big picture

The complaint comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark June 2023 decision striking down affirmative action programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. In that ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that both universities’ programs “lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping and lack meaningful end points.”

The EPP’s filing argues that the Alliance program is “underinclusive, since the racial restriction is arbitrary and excludes swaths of candidates who could benefit from the programs but who are not permitted to apply due to their race and skin color.” The organization is requesting an investigation and, if necessary, the imposition of fines and suspension of federal funding to the four universities.

The complaint parallels elements of the Harvard affirmative action case, where Asian applicants were allegedly held to higher standards for admission. However, while the Alliance program’s guidelines specify eligible minority groups, they do not explicitly state that other racial groups cannot apply.

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Jacobson expressed hope for a resolution. “Our hope is that the four universities who comprised the alliance will look at it this and say, ‘You know what? We did it wrong. We made a mistake here, and we’re going to change it.’ And if that’s the result, we would consider that a win,” he said.

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