The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it is initiating an inquiry into UC, claiming that the university’s efforts to diversify its faculty may constitute unlawful discrimination in hiring based on race and sex.
The Justice Department’s top civil rights attorney stated in a short, 419-word letter to UC President Michael V. Drake that it had good reason to suspect that UC has certain employment practices that discriminate against workers, job candidates, and participants in training programs on the basis of race and sex.
In addition to raising graduation rates, the percentage of students who earn undergraduate degrees within four years, and granting access to UC campuses to racial minorities and other historically underrepresented minority groups in higher education, the letter highlighted UC’s ambitious plan to add at least 20,000 students by 2030. After announcing the proposal in 2021, UC raised the enrollment target to 33,000 if sufficient funding and other resources become available.
California
According to the U.S. Department of Education, California’s decision to permit transgender children to participate in school sports in accordance with their gender identity constitutes a violation of students’ civil rights.
The Justice Department seemed to focus on specific areas of the comprehensive UC 2030 Capacity Plant that outline plans to attract 1,100 tenure-track teaching members and diversify graduate students.
The proposal may have prompted unlawful action by the University of California and some or all of its member schools, according to a letter written by Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The Justice Department claimed in a statement that UC violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by ordering its campuses to hire diverse faculty members in order to fulfill quotas for hiring based on race and sex.
It’s crucial to remember that we haven’t come to any conclusions regarding the topic, Dhillon continued.
Hiring quotas are not included in the UC goals, despite the fact that they clearly state the university’s desire to promote diversity. The governor-appointed board of directors at UC Regents has officially prohibited the use of quotas based on gender and ethnicity since 2020. This action was taken during the debate of Proposition 16, which would have overturned the state’s ban on affirmative action but was not approved.
A UC representative said in a statement on Thursday that the university will assist with the investigation and that it complies with the law.
According to Rachel Zaentz, Senior Director of Strategic and Critical Communications, the University of California is dedicated to fair and legal procedures in all of our programs and activities, in compliance with state and federal anti-discrimination legislation.
According to her, the institution also wants to create a welcoming and encouraging campus community. As the Department of Justice investigates, we will cooperate with it in a sincere manner.
California
The Trump administration was ordered this week by a federal judge to return millions of dollars in funding to researchers at the University of California who are spearheading a class-action lawsuit.
As part of its aggressive campaign to take action against universities it claims are favoring Black, Latino, and other racial, ethnic, or religious groups over Asian, white, and Jewish students, staff, and employees, the Trump administration has launched two investigations into UC hiring practices. Court challenges have resulted from Trump’s directive to halt diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in educational institutions that receive federal funding.
The Justice Department opened an inquiry in March to determine whether UC allowed a hostile, antisemitic work environment on its campuses, so engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against its professors, staff, and other employees on the basis of race, religion, and national origin.
It was founded on faculty concerns and petitions alleging that the university encouraged alleged antisemitism during pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year and urged UC to cut its financial links to Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
Both investigations involve a federal anti-discrimination law-based pattern or practice examination of universities, a civil rights enforcement strategy used during Democratic administrations to address claims of racism against police agencies.
UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and UCLA were also charged by the Justice Department in March with employing illegal DEI in admissions, most likely in reference to affirmative action. Due to allegations of admissions prejudice, the Department of Health and Human Services is also looking into UCLA’s medical school.
Such actions have been refuted by the university. According to Zaentz, when Proposition 209, which forbids taking race into account in employment, contracting, or public education, entered into force in 1997, UC stopped utilizing race in admissions. She stated in March that UC has now changed its admissions procedures to adhere to the law.
Two campuses of UCA federal task force to combat antisemitism has stated that it is investigating ten colleges, including Berkeley and Los Angeles. Due to claims that Harvard and Columbia colleges encouraged antisemitism, the task group was instrumental in removing billions of dollars in federal support from these institutions.
