The University of Virginia seems to have altered its website following accusations of violating Title VI.
Following a civil rights complaint filed with the US Department of Education, the University of Virginia seems to have altered the website description of a mentoring program for BIPOC students.
The Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a federal civil rights complaint on October 1, accusing the University of Virginia of “creating, sponsoring and promoting a racially discriminatory program called the BIPOC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program” by exempting White students courses that are created to assist classmates who fall into the “Black, Indigenous and People of Color” group.
The complaint noted that the program’s goal is to “improve BIPOC undergraduates’ program experiences, career opportunities, and retention through pairing these learners with alumni mentors,” however, the EPP feels such initiatives should benefit all students.
The complaint stated, “The BIPOC Mentoring Program violates Title VI because it conditions eligibility for participation on a student’s race, ethnicity, and skin colour. And, because UVA is a public university, its creation, sponsorship, promotion, and hosting of this discriminatory program also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Fox News Digital obtained the complaint.
The EPP urged the Department for Education to look at the University of Virginia’s “role in creating, promoting and administering this program and to impose whatever corrective relief is necessary to hold it accountable for that illegal conduct,” noting that “fines, initiating administrative proceedings to suspend or end federal financial support and referring the case to the DoJ for judicial dealings to enforce the rights of the United States under federal law” should one be provided.
According to the website, the module is “made possible by the UVA Parents Program’s generosity and overseen by EHD’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI).” The EPP detected changes to the BIPOC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program’s website shortly after filing the complaint.
According to the Internet Archives Wayback Machine, the school’s website stated that the BIPOC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program sought “up to 25 BIPOC undergraduates” as of October 2,
It was altered to declare that the course is seeking “up to 25 undergraduates” and notes that the “program was created with BIPOC students in mind.”
William A. Jacobson, a Cornell Law professor, established the EPP to ensure that all students receive fair treatment of all persons regardless of race or ethnicity and feels the change is both an “admission of wrongdoing” and simply not enough.
Jacobson told the media, “The wording change by UVA so soon after our complaint is a tacit admission of wrongdoing.”
He added: “These wording changes, however, do not fully solve the problem because UVA still signals that the program was ‘created with BIPOC students in mind.’ That is a dog whistle that only BIPOC students are encouraged to apply and that non-BIPOC — i.e. White — students are not welcome.” “UVA needs to make the program fully open and welcoming to all students without regard to race rather than playing word games.”
According to its website, the EPP’s underlining principle states that there is “no ‘good’ form of bigotry,” and that the “remedy for racism never is more racism.”
The University of Virginia spokesperson stated that the school hadn’t yet received the complaint and couldn’t comment specifically.
