Race-conscious affirmative action policies have been used for decades in undergraduate admissions
Donald Trump’s Justice Department is receiving backlash from civil rights groups for its reported proposal to investigate and sue US universities over admissions policies it finds discriminate against white applicants.
The revelation is the latest signal that the department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions is trying to reorganise the priorities of its civil rights division, which has already taken action to change Obama administration policies on gay rights and ballot access.
Kristen Clarke, the president of the liberal Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has suggested that the possible project aimed at attacking affirmative action policies is “misaligned with the [civil rights] division’s longstanding priorities.”
Ms Clarke told the New York Times that the division was “created and launched to deal with the unique problem of discrimination faced by our nation’s most oppressed minority groups.”
The division’s website states that it “works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society.”
According to a document obtained by the Times, the civil rights division is seeking current lawyers interested in working on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”
Officials have said, according to the Washington Post, the project will not operate out of the division’s Educational Opportunities Section – which is run by career civil servants that normally handle work involving universities – but instead in the front office of the division, where Mr Trump’s political appointees work.
This could imply that the person leading the initiative would be carrying out a political agenda rather than just focusing on enforcing anti-discrimination laws for education.
“By assembling a team of attorneys in the front office of the Civil Rights Division to focus on so-called 'intentional race-based discrimination', this Justice Department is laying the groundwork to attack policies that help promote racial diversity at colleges and universities,” Ms Clarke said in a statement.
Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores could not confirm the project to the Independent.
A Justice Department official said the document obtained by the Times was a personnel posting.
“It does not reflect a new policy or programme or any changes to longstanding DOJ policy. Whenever there's a credible allegation of discrimination on the basis of race, the department will look into it,” the official said.
Race-conscious affirmative action policies have been used for decades in undergraduate admissions. But the practise of considering race when deciding whether to admit someone into a school has come under fire in recent years.
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