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History professor files civil rights complaint accusing the private university of racial discrimination

A DePaul University professor has filed a civil rights complaint alleging the institution is discriminating against “non-Black” students and employees.

Brian Boeck, who teaches Russian history at the private Catholic university, filed the complaint with Chicago’s Office for Civil Rights on Jan. 9.

The complaint, which Boeck provided to The College Fix, alleges “non-Black students, faculty and staff are illegally excluded” from participating in DePaul’s Black Equity Initiative, including its leadership committee.

“As a white, male, natural born US citizen and professor at DePaul University I have been illegally denied the benefits of participating in university governance (a contractual right),” his complaint states.

Additionally, Boeck alleges he has “been denied an opportunity to contribute to university decision-making by being excluded from service on the committee,” and “denied the benefits of having a university committee that advocates and negotiates with the administration exclusively for members of my race.”

“As a recipient of federal financial assistance, DePaul University is obligated to abide by the non-discrimination clause of Title VI,” the complaint states.

The Black Equity Initiative was created to “implement meaningful changes that address the unique challenges faced by the Black community at DePaul,” according to its website. Its leadership committee held its first meeting in October 2023.

Boeck’s complaint says the BEI committee is “comprised exclusively of representatives of the Black community.”

It also “publicly presents itself as representatives of the African American Community in bargaining with the university to create separate programs and resources for Black faculty and staff,” according to the complaint.

Boeck also alleges the initiative is unnecessary because it “substantially duplicates” the work of the President’s Diversity Advisory Committee.

“[T]he goal of advancing diversity was already being served by an existing committee,” the complaint read.

In an email conversation with The Fix, Boeck (pictured) said he filed the complaint because of a growing concern about racism at the university.

“I noticed around 2020 that the DePaul diversity bureaucracy started to promote the notion that our university is riddled with racism,” he said.

“I found this notion to be ridiculous because DePaul is one of the most diverse and overwhelmingly liberal institutions in the entire country,” Boeck said.

“Until I saw the BEI messages in my inbox, I never imagined that a form of neo-segregation could be instituted in the governance of an American university,” the professor told The Fix.

Boeck said he hoped DePaul leaders would realize that “race-restricted programs” were illegal after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case in 2023.

He also raised questions about the initiative with Shajuan Young, associate director of the BEI Committee, according to an email exchange he shared with The Fix.

Young replied to Boeck on Nov. 1, 2024, saying the committee would “soon issue a new call for committee members,” which would be “open to the entire DePaul community, welcoming individuals from all backgrounds.”

However, Boeck told The Fix he waited “three months for the university to open up self-nominations for the committee,” and finally decided it was time to file a civil rights complaint.

His complaint states, “To date no actions have been taken by the university.”

When contacted for comment, Young referred The Fix to the DePaul media relations team. The Fix contacted university spokesperson Kristin Mathews multiple times via email over the past two weeks, but she did not respond.

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Along with the discrimination issues, Boeck told The Fix he believes the BEI committee also “was attempting a power grab to institute DEI ‘across all university functions and curricula.’”

He cited a goal of the initiative, detailed in one of the committee’s founding documents, to “incorporate DEI into curriculum, promoting inclusive teaching, and building DEI competencies for all stakeholders.”

“I called out the fact that such an action is a clear usurpation of faculty responsibilities as outlined in the faculty handbook,” he told The Fix.

Boeck confronted Young about this and received the following response, according to emails shared with The Fix: “BEI plans to support faculty by collaborating and working within existing processes to provide optional [diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging] resources that faculty may wish to incorporate, as appropriate.”

“In the coming year, BEI will focus on initiatives designed to foster an inclusive community, such as allyship and inclusion programs and accountability measures that assess progress,” Young wrote in the email.

In speaking with The Fix, Boeck expressed hope that President Donald Trump will “take steps to reign in discrimination in higher education long before” his case is resolved.

Other concerns Boeck mentioned to The Fix include the “antiracist” ideas that the university has promoted to faculty and staff.

For example, in 2020, administrators encouraged them to read the book “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram Kendi. University leaders provided a series of documents including a “Glossary of Terms and Reflection Questions” to guide them through the book.

Among other things, the documents claimed higher education institutions are “embedded with structural racism and practices that privilege some groups while negatively impacting others.”

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IMAGE: DePaul University

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