Trump Administration Wants to Investigate 'Race-Based Discrimination' Against White College Applicants: Report
President Donald Trump‘s administration is preparing to redirect federal resources toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action programs, a new report says.
The New York Times on Tuesday reported that the administration is planning to look into affirmative action policies aimed at bringing more minority students to university campuses, claiming that the policies discriminate against white college applicants.
The administration is planning to redirect resources from the Justice Department’s civil rights division for the effort and is seeking lawyers interested in taking legal action against “intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” the Times reports, citing a document obtained by the newspaper.
Read our statement on reports detailing DOJ's efforts to undermine #AffirmativeAction https://t.co/47wypnnOIe pic.twitter.com/JxYoR9vpRN
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) August 2, 2017
Vanita Gupta, former head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division under Barack Obama, called the plan an “affront to our values as a country and the very mission of the civil rights division,” in a statement to The Washington Post.
“Long-standing Supreme Court precedent has upheld the constitutionality and compelling state interest of these policies, and generations of Americans have benefited from richer, more inclusive institutions of higher education,” Gupta said.
Sarah Isgur Flores, the Justice Department’s spokeswoman, would neither confirm nor deny the move to PEOPLE.
The document, a internal announcement to the civil rights division, does not specifically identify who officials believe are at risk of discrimination, the Times reports. But supporters and critics of the project told the publication that it would clearly target programs that can benefit members of disadvantaged groups like Black and Latino students.
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Here’s how people are reacting to the report on Twitter:
Looking to SUE SCHOOLS OVER AFFIRMATIVE ACTION? Every white person needs to stand up and scream and yell. This is not okay. Call your rep.
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) August 2, 2017
Attack on #AffirmativeAction & DOJ civil rights division not about logic, facts or fairness. It's just racism, y'all. Regular racism 1.0 pic.twitter.com/tzkGkaCgi7
— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) August 2, 2017
The real affirmative action story is how Jared Kushner got into Harvard after his dad donated millions.
READ THIShttps://t.co/WPHENMp36a pic.twitter.com/Asgn7Mp9lN— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 2, 2017
If you want to understand the importance of #AffirmativeAction, just count the number of unqualified white men in the White House.
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) August 2, 2017
In the wake of the report, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund released a statement condemning the plan.
“[The] LDF has fought to ensure that every child is afforded an equal opportunity to succeed, and we will bring the full force of the law if this Justice Department attempts to resegregate our institutions of higher learning,” officials said.
Affirmative Action increases racial tension, perpetuates social division and it leads to reverse discrimination. It needs to go!
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) August 2, 2017
Meanwhile, some supporters of the project told the Times that the move is “long overdue.”
“The civil rights laws were deliberately written to protect everyone from discrimination,” Roger Clegg, a former civil rights division official under Ronald Reagan, told the Times. “It is frequently the case that not only are whites discriminated against now, but frequently Asian-Americans are as well.”